The puppeteer of Life
by immortal1145
Summary: Naruto was killed by Kakashi at the Valley of the end, or was he? Watch as he walks the shadows of the Shinobi world, watch as he becomes the puppeteer of Life. Grey Naruto. I own nothing, all I own is my plot.
1. Chapter 1

_**The puppeteer of Life**_

 **Chapter 1**

"K-kakashi s-sensei, w-why!" shouted the blonde in a weird combination of anger, fear, hate, and sadness. This Blonde is none other than Uzumaki Naruto, also known as the kyubi jinchuuriki or otherwise just "The kyubi" or "Demon Brat". He is a 12 year old boy with sunkissed, spiky blonde hair with deep blue eyes and three wisker like markings on each cheek. He seems to be wearing a hideous orange and blue jumpsuit, but mostly orange with a weapons pouch attached to his right thigh. His normally innocent and sparkling blue eyes are now as dark and cloudy as a thunderstorm, raging in a battle between a collection of negative and painful emotions.

"What a demon, to think that he can actually speak even with my Raikiri pearcing his lungs, if not because of the damage, than the raw electrical currents I'm streaming throughout his body should have hindered his ability to even speak, much less scream so loud." Thought the above average height Jonin now identified as Hatake Kakashi with white gravity defying spiky hair and one dark eye, with his left eye being red with three tamoe. The man is dressed in the standard jonin outfit with a green flack jacket and black gloves with metal plates attached for protection.

"One of the first lessons I taught you was to always look underneath the underneath, Naruto, you should have seen this coming a mile, no, a million miles away. I expected you to at least have anticipated this, I find it hard to believe that someone who has lived the kind of life you have led could be so naive and ignorant, to think that a blind fool like you wanted to be hokage is an insult to the title itself.."

"Shut Up! T-teme...Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon and betray their comrades are worse than trash, wasn't that also one of the first lessons you taught us, ne Kakashi SENSEI!" screamed the blonde in anguish and hate, having started off in barely decipherable whispers.

"Very true, I'm actually glad that you could remember this lesson, Naruto, that is exactly why I am doing this, I am taking out the trash that is holding our team back, so that we may reach our full potential." Said the copy nin without so much as a flinch from the jab from his student, soon to be former student.

"Cough Cough, what..~cough~ are you talking about?" asked the blonde in between coughing fits.

"Naruto, let us travel back down memory lane, do you remember when I was defeated by Zabuza, when he captured me in his water prison, tell me, did you honestly believe that me, The Legendary Copy Ninja, could have lost a battle so easily, without even at least injuring my opponent, especially after i had promised Sasuke that I would not fail to protect my comrades?" asked the copy cat, resisting the urge to smirk at the horrified look of recognition on the blonde's eyes.

"You..You...what do you mean?" asked the blonde, adopting an incredulous facial expression.

"And here I was thinking you had put 2 and 2 together, maybe I overestimated your limited IQ. Naruto, the person that was captured in the water prison was my shadow clone, which I had substituded myself with when Zabuza kicked me into the water, you get it right...I had counted on your promise to never run away that you made to yourself and your chronic need to show off, especially against Sasuke, your rival, and for Sakura, your crush. That desire for attention together with your stupidity would have driven you to attack first and head on and get yourself killed, imagine my surprise when I found myself having to switch back with my clone because you actually turned out to have a brain and rescued my shadow clone from Zabuza's water prison." Said the White haired Jonin, giving the blonde one his unnerving, intense stares.

"You...You were trying to get me killed and than save Sakura chan and Sasuke!" asked/stated the blonde in disbelief, his mask slowly but surely crumbling from the revelation.

'How is he still alive, how is he still even conscious, and asking me all these questions?' Thought Kakashi absent mindedly.

"Correct, why else did you think I only taught you the tree climbing excercise in wave country when I could have taught you all much earlier? Why do you think I entered you into the chuunin exams when you clearly were not ready for it? Why do you think I pawned you off to that useless Jonin Ebisu to train for the finals, Why do you think I taught Sasuke the chidori?" Asked the copy nin rhetorically.

"I thought..."

"Never mind, let me answer for you, it was a rhetorical question anyway.." stated Kakashi mockingly.

"I tried to get you killed by zabuza, but you came up with a plan and outwitted me. I didn't teach the team anything prior to that because i had been hoping to get rid of you first, I would than use your death as an excuse for the sudden change of attitude towards my team and train the remaining two to the best of my abilities. But I failed and you survived despite my efforts." Said Kakashi, pausing momentarily to give the blonde a chance to digest the information.

"I than entered the three of you into the chuunin exams, but not before teaching Sasuke numerous fire techniques from my arsenal and how to cast a genjutsu and copy techniques with his sharingan, and not before teaching Sakura trap making and setting and some low level genjutsu and how to heal moderate injuries without the use of chakra, once again I had hoped you would die in the exams because you were unprepared, and once again you defied the odds and came out on top against my best wishes." Said the copy nin venomously.

"But there was still hope when you were paired with Neji, the genious of the Hyuga clan who had raw skill, intelligence, and jonin level taijutsu and speed, and most importantly, who had displayed homicidal behaviour against his cousin and anyone who challenged his beliefs. I knew he would try to kill you if you were to be paired together in battle as you would obviously challenge his beliefs against what he did to his cousin, who also happens to be your classmate and friend, imagine my luck when it turned out you would be the first to fight, and against him of all people. So I pawned you off to a weak Jonin who hated your guts. But once again you saw through my efforts like the demon fox trickster you are and sought yourself a better teacher who taught you how to access your powers, and you used them to defeat Neji." Said Kakashi, glaring daggers at the demon for making a fool out of him like that.

"By this point I was confident in my suspicions, I had always known that that happy go lucky Hokage wana be attitude was fake, and looking underneath the underneath, I realised exactly why you wanted to be Hokage, you wanted to infiltrate the village hierarchy and destroy us from within to get your revenge, playing the innocent child all the way until you had the power that you required, you were trying to hide your true self, but your ability to not only see through my plans but to counter them so efficiently without looking too suspicious confirmed my thoughts. Even your win against Kiba was a well thought out strategy, using his nose against him to create an opening, under normal circumstances, people would write it off as the idiot naruto getting a stroke of luck, but I, being your sensei, and knowing how you countered my plans knew better, this was all part of your genious plan wasn't it, why else would you pretend to be something you're not?" asked Kakashi out loud, though the question was not directed at anyone in particular.

All the while Kakashi had been talking, Naruto had been silently listening, too shocked to react or say anything in retaliation, who wouldn't be in his place, how could one have expected someone they considered family to have thought so ill of them all this time, to have been deceived like this?

"But I had already anticipated everything you would do, demon fox!" snapped Kakashi hatefully, breaking the blonde from his stupor.

"On the off chance that you survived your battle against Neji, I had decided to teach Sasuke my prized technique, the Chidori, I knew that Sasuke would try to kill you at some point in order to activate his mangyeko sharingan so that he could gain the strength to defeat his brother, but I knew he would need a trump card to defeat a demon trickster like you, so i taught him the chidori, using the excuse that he would need it to defeat the unstable and homicidal Sabaku no Gaara, this way, he would stand a chance against you, it would also be poetic in a sense, if my technique would be used to end your existence."

"But once again you saw through my plan again, after witnessing the power of the chidori when Sasuke used it against Gaara, you convinced Jiraiya sama to teach you an equally powerful technique, the rasengan. When I found out about this when you fought Sasuke at the hospital, I was angry at Jiraiya sama and confronted him about teaching you the rasengan and almost gave my cover away, that's when I realised what you were doing, trying to expose me to get rid of me, but indirectly, frustrating me until I started acting out of character without even realising it, which could have had the result of people starting to become suspicious of my behavior. You would than use your current influence over the Hokage, Jiraiya sama, and the clan heirs to make me look like the guilty one, painting yourself as the innocent boy with a burden, who only wants to protect his precious people. When I realised how much control you already had over the village, the village that Minato sensei sacrificed his life to protect, I knew what I had to do, which is why we are where we are at this moment." Said Kakashi, ending his long explanation.

"You bastard, you won't get away with this! Baa chan will know, she'll know that you're lying, and Ero sannin will investigate, me and Baa chan have a bond, she is like the mother I never had, and ero sannin treats me like his own son, they'll know what happened, you're going to rot in jail you bastard!" shouted the blonde, steeling his resolve with that trade mark defiant look in his eyes, a look that silently infuriated the copy nin.

"Mother you never had? Father you never had you say, you don't know anything about them do you? About your so called God Father and God mother who abandoned you and wanted nothing to do with you? Or your twin sister and mother who deserted you on the day that you were born, do you...Naruto...?" asked Kakashi, silently revelling in the horror and grief stricken look on the blonde's face.

"I'm an orphan. My mother and father died as heroes in the kyubi attack, they loved me...t-they...they wanted to be with me, to raise me b-but..but they died ..unfortunately, that is what jiji said, so I know, I know you're lying, jiji wouldn't lie to me teme!" said the blonde softly, hyperventilating, whether because of emotional or physical distress, Kakashi honestly did not know, maybe a combination of the two.

"When you asked him what their names were, what did Sandaime sama tell you? When you asked him why everyone hated you, what did Sandaime sama tell you, huh...Naruto...?" asked Kakashi.

"Jiji didn't know their names, the records were lost during the destruction. W-what does that have to do with anything, who cares about that! You know about my parents? I want to know about my parents, tell me about my parents, teme sensei!" screamed the blonde in frustration and anticipation, maybe even a little bit of trepidation as well, fearing what horrible truths might be uncovered.

"You fool, how do you know if someone is a hero or not if you do not even know who they are? Did you honestly think it is possible for a Kage to not know the names of his own shinobi, his own employees? Naruto, I used to be one of the A.N.B.U that were occassionally assigned to watch over you, so i know better than anyone how many times you asked the sandaime why everyone hated you, he blatently lied to you every time you asked that question,. If he could lie to you about something that important, what made you think he wouldn't lie to you about your lineage? If it was up to him, if Mizuki had not told you, you still wouldn't know why everyone hated you, he never intended for you to ever find out anything?" said Kakashi venomously, causing the blonde to almost flinch at the hate filled eyes directed at him.

"No...he wouldn't...Sandaime jiji said he loved me like his grandson..he was the only one there for me.."

"Of course he was, demon fox...!" cut in Kakashi.

"He had to determine whether you had regained your memories or if you had any hold over your powers, but he couldn't behave too suspiciously, he couldn't directly interrogate you either, that would render the law he made about your existence irrelevant. So he did the next best thing, he earned your trust by pretending to be your grand father figure, at the time, the only interactions you had experienced with other people were negative memories. He would then be your light in the darkness, the person who treated you kindly and cared about you, the person you admired and wanted to emulate, the person you could confide in. This way, it would make it easy for him to monitor you, or rather, to monitor the seal and determine whether you were a threat or not, you get it right...no one has ever truly cared about you..." said Kakashi with absolute sincerity that not even the blonde, who was bordering on complete denial could ignore.

By now endless tears were freely flowing from the blonde's eyes, staining his cheeks and even his torn jump suit. He couldn't believe it, this man, this man had to be lying, this sounded too much like a movie, or a play or something, things like this didn't happen in real life did they? But how could he prove it to be lie? It made too much sense to be anything but the truth. But than...if this was true, what did that say about him? Was he really so stupid, so desperate that he couldn't even see what was always in front of him? He should have known better shouldn't he have? What had made him so special, that out of all the orphans in the orphanage, that the Hokage of all people would pay special attention to him, to go to such great lengths to befriend him? He should have suspected something, but he was arrogant, he had simply thought that the hokage had recognised his awesomeness, and that if the hokage could see it, than he could make everyone else see it too. What a gullable fool he was...but wait a minute...didn't Kakashi say something about his family, he wanted to at least know about that before he died, no..he didn't want to know about it, he needed to know about it, damn that Kakashi, he would force it out of him, if only he could tap in to some youki. But he couldn't for some reason, ever since he looked into that teme's sharingan ...

"I-I'm tired, please...just tell me...tell me about my mother, and sister, why did they abandon me, a-and who is my God mother,and God father? Why did they abandon me...cough cough...?" asked the blonde, not even looking at the Cyclops anymore, his eyes looking at the ground with his spiky, blonde bangs covering his eyes darkly, his forehead protector having slipped off of his head during his battle with his best...former best friend.

He could feel it, he was dying, his body was so...numb, yes, he was numb, he couldn't even feel his limbs anymore. His heart rate had slowed down and he was sure that the internal damage he had suffered would hard press even kyubi's healing ability to keep him alive.

"Your mother left you on the day you were born, demon. She took your sister away with her so that she can train her to be a strong kunoichi, come to think about it, they are supposed to come back two years from now." Said Kakashi.

"Why..w-why didn't they take me with them?" asked the blonde.

"To protect Naruko, if people knew that Kushina sama was raising the demon, than they would hate her too, and by extension, they would hate Naruko for being the sister of the demon, to protect her daughter, she decided that she would leave the village and come back when Naruko was strong enough to protect herself from anyone, and strong enough to protect her home village, just like her father did." Explained Kakashi patiently.

"F-father?" asked the blonde curiously.

"Yes, Namikaze Minato, my sensei, The Yondaime Hokage, otherwise known as the koroi no senko."

"W-what! Impossible, the Yondaime is my hero, the man i look up to the most, he would never seal a demon in his own son!" denied the blonde with renewed vigour.

"It was a no doubt a difficult decision, but sensei had trusted that your god father, Jiraya sama would take care of you, and as a fellow seal master, he would be able to ensure that the kyubi stayed locked away. Your mother, Uzamaki Kushina left you in her cousin's care, Senju Tsunade, but she also abandoned you, no one wanted to raise a demon it seems." Said Copy Ninja.

"Y-you keep speaking as if I'm the demon itself, and yet you were patient and generous enough to tell me about my lineage, why, if you truly believe I'm the demon, than why did you find it necessary to explain all of this to me?" asked the blonde softly. He couldn't find the strength to shout, scream, or curse anymore, his desire to hear the truth, to receive some form of closure was the only thing keeping him alive at the moment.

"Contrary to what you might believe, I'm not killing you out of revenge, at least it is not just revenge against you, demon.."

"Then why?" asked Naruto, not understanding at all.

"I cannot bare to see you use the body of my sensei's son like this, to watch Naruto suffer at your hands, by killing you, Naruto will be able to find peace in the afterlife, he will be reunited with his father and be freed from your evil, that is why I have taken the liberty to explain things to you, Naruto's spirit is still locked somewhere inside you, this way, he can at least know the truth about his family before he passes on, now die demon fox...Lightning Style: Lightning Blade Current!" said Kakashi, fully activating the modified version of his signature technique.

"GWAAH!" screamed Naruto in pain and anguish. He couldn't believe how much pain he was in, if he thought being pierced by the lightning blade was painful, than this was ten time worse. He could feel the electrical currents not just in the area surrounding his wound, but all throughout his body, it felt like every organ in his body...no, never mind that, it felt like every cell in his body was being electrocuted.

"Rest in peace...Naruto." whispered Kakashi before he kicked the blonde into the river, right between the statues of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

'I've done it, finally. I've killed the kyubi, freed your son, and protected the village, just like you did all your life, Minato sensei...' Thought Kakashi, feeling a mixture of relief, sadness and nostalgia.

"Argh!" grunted Kakashi in pain originating from his sharingan eye, it was the most burning sensation he had ever felt in his life, but just as it came, it was almost immediately gone in nothing but 5 seconds, making him question if it was ever there in the first place.

'No...something is different, my eye is draining a lot more chakra than it usually does.' Thought Kakashi, who had to suppress a gasp from leaving his throat when he looked at his reflection in the water. Something was different about his reflection, more specifically, something was different with his sharingan. Whereas before it was red with three tamoe , it now looked like the tamoe had been connected to form a black, three pronged shuriken.

'M-mangyeko Sharingan, but how, I'm not an Uchiha...' Thought Kakashi in bewilderment.

'I cannot let anyone find out about this, at least not yet.' Thought the cycloptic ninja as he deactivated his ultimate sharingan, covering up his eye with his forehead protector.

"Sasuke, we'll meet again, I'm sure of it. I'll save you from Orochimaru, I won't fail Obito, we'll definately meet again." Thought Kakashi out loud before he disappeared with a leaf shunshuin.

 **Scene change**

With Naruto as he was sinking he did not feel anger or hatred or even betrayal, all he thought was

"finally, I am done with this charade, the boss can move a bit more freely in the shadows." yes you guesses correctly this Naruto was a bunshin, but not any kind of bunshin, a unique kind of bunshin that only Naruto was able to make. And so without a puff of smoke or anything the bunshin disappeared, passing the intel from his passing to the original.

 **Scene change**

 **Kosanji den (High sacred montain den)** is the house and domain of the fox clan, the first user's of senjutsu, while they are less known than the toads, they are without a doubt better at using senjutsu than the amphibians. But now on the mountain was not a fox but a man. Naruto is a tall, young man with tanned skin, grey eyes and long spiky blonde hair. His hair is left wild and has long bangs that frame the left side of his face. He wears a straw hat (called a sakkat) and white shitagi (under clothing), black kosode (small sleeve), black hakama, a white hakama-himo, white tabi (foot pouch), and waraji, and a white haori with long sleeves, on the back of said Haori was the red Uzumaki swirl. On his side is a standard katana, with a dark purple handle and a circular hand guard. Its name is Ryujin jakka. He was meditating when he felt the intel of his clone hit him, thankfully he had that fuinjutsu installer that only let him have the last 24 hours of the clones life, if he had to watch the whole eight years since he left konoha he would have killed himself. Smiling he looked behind to see his partner, kyubi or as she liked to call herself, Kurama, Kurama is a kitsune with red-orange fur and red eyes, it possesses the upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands. During the last remaining days of the Sage of the Six Paths, Kurama was much smaller than its present-day self, but was still much larger than the Sage. Over time, Kurama's size increased tremendously, standing roughly the same height as the Hokage Rock, and Gamabunta being only the size of Kurama's torso. Its eye alone is bigger than a fully grown human. When Minato separated Kurama's Yin chakra from its Yang chakra, it was split into two entities, both of which are shrunken more than half its original size. But Naruto repaired that over two years ago when he released her and gave her back the chakra that was sealed within the Shinigami. She looked at the young man she nurtured since he was six years old, and she could honestly say that she was proud of both herself and of him. She saw him shift in his meditation so she asked

" **what is the matter Naruto kun?"**

"nothing just my clone had dispelled recently, all I need is some time to handle the stress of the memories, but do not worry the seeds have been planted as it was according to plan. I have to admit that for a jounin Kakashi was quite predictable."

" **not everyone is capable of feeling other peoples' emotions Naruto, you have me to thank for that"** blasted the bijuu which made Naruto chuckle before saying

"touché, now what do we do about both Sasuke and Kakashi?" asked Naruto

" **Sasuke, as you know is the transmigrant of Indra just like Madara teme before him, we can't let someone with that kind of power unchecked so we should kill him right now, as for Kakashi, that brat is as reliant on his precious sharingan that in half a year, I can assure you he will have discovered the power of his Mangekyo and wether our hypothesis checks out or not we still kill him what do you think?"** asked the bijuu and Naruto nodded his head before answering

"I agree in regards to Kakashi but for Sasuke, I think we should just let him be for now, with the seed planted in him, the little bastard is as good as dead, we can kill him any time we want, so let's leave him be for now and let's focus on more important matters like the situation in Kiri. The rebellion is winning thanks to our assistance but they need a little push, I suggest I return there to help with the preparations for Yagura's 'death' so to speak. What do you think Kurama kaa sama?" he asked the bijuu before she started glowing red, when the light faded, she was no longer a giant fox but she took the form of a pale-skinned young woman with icy blue eyes. She has long, crimson hair, which is partially tied up in the back in a long bun and falls behind her shoulders while a strand falls between her eyes, and is parted on the left side of her head by a blue, star-shaped hair clip. She wears a red kimono with large sleeves and a long hem, and has a pale yellow-green obi wrapped around her waist which is attached to a large, pale purple bow on her back. She smiled at her surrogate son before she said

" **fine, but he will only have two years to live, passed that he is to be killed understood?** " she asked Naruto who merely nodded before he remembered just how he met the bijuu.

 **Flashback start**

Naruto opened his eyes. He didn't see the alley which was the scene of the current brutal attack to his person. No, he saw that he was in a sewer of some sort. He was currently lying down on a very wet floor. The walls were dirty with pipes all going to who knows where. It must have been a trick of the light but the pipes were glowing blue and red.

Despite popular belief, Naruto wasn't stupid. He was intelligent but he hid it since he didn't know how the villagers would take it if the most hated child in the Village Hidden in the Leaf had a brain between his ears. No, he hid it and kept on smiling like an idiot. Despite the beatings he got and the obvious hatred leveled at him, he held a child-like innocence hoping against hope that everything would turn out alright.

This current attack, however, was enough for him. No longer could he hold on to his innocence. This attack was more brutal than the rest and he couldn't deny the fact that the villagers this time was extra vindictive considering the type of weapons they were carrying and using at him.

Fortunately, or unfortunately in this case, one of the villagers who was beating the hell out of him with a rusty knife was able to voice out the reason of why he was being treated that way as each blow was dealt. It must have been the rage and anger that the villager was feeling that eventually gave way to the revelation.

He was the Kyuubi.

The demon.

The nine-tailed fox.

His intelligence, however, denied this as blows upon blows were rained down on him. He couldn't be the Kyuubi since he was his own person.

He was Uzumaki Naruto.

The village pariah.

He wasn't the Kyuubi and deep down, he knew this to be true.

He looked around and observed the place he was in. He knew that he wasn't in the sewers of Konoha. He knew the sewers like the back of his hand since the underground catacombs of the village was his safe haven and escape route when the mobs would start chasing him. He would look for the nearest manhole and jump in, making his way along the maze-like cavern until he reached the manhole that was near the Hokage Tower where he would immediately go to his surrogate grandfather, the Sandaime Hokage, for safety or his apartment where he would hide without a peep until the crowd grew tired of looking for him.

No, this wasn't the Konoha sewers that he grew to love. This was something else.

Not knowing anything else to do, he pushed himself off the wet floor and started walking. He didn't know where to go but he decided to just follow the pipes since they would eventually lead to somewhere. While he walked, he checked his body and was surprised to discover that the wounds and bruises that were supposed to be there were none to be found. He couldn't even feel any pain. He knew that he healed fast, but he knew that the healing wasn't that fast to get rid of the aftermath of the attack, especially one of this caliber. This was further made true when he discovered his clothes were still intact. His white t-shirt with the red whirlpool symbol in the middle was still in one piece and as clean as ever. His blue shorts were still there, protecting his modesty if he ever had one to begin with considering his status in the village. Modesty was for the privileged, after all.

He shrugged it off as one of life's many mysteries as he continued to follow the cavern to who knows where.

He didn't know how long he walked but he eventually reached the end of the metaphorical maze he was traversing. Naruto found himself in a large, spacious room. At the opposite side of the entrance was a very large cage with bars as thick as his malnourished body. In the middle of the cage where a lock was supposed to be had a square paper with the kanji of 'Seal' written in black ink.

Naruto's mind was whirling as to what the cage could be holding considering how fortified it was. In fact, the question of where he was currently at was pulled up again. But before he could do anything else, a powerful voice emanated from the darkness behind the bars.

" **My container finally graced me with his presence."** The voice growled from somewhere in the darkness and reverberated across the room, amplifying its intensity. **"I was thinking that it would take a few years more before you would discover my presence but it seemed that the idiotic villagers have put you on the brink of life and death, forcing your consciousness to retreat deep within your mind."**

Naruto didn't say anything but instead peered into the darkness to try to determine who owned the voice that spoke to him. It didn't take long for him to see a pair of gigantic eyes looking at him - a pair of red eyes that spoke of power and cunning that could never belong to a human.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked calmly. He was scared, sure, but he was tired of showing his fear. The current attack from the villagers hardened him to the point that his emotions were starting to become an echo, a memory that was better ignored or forgotten.

" **Oh? Not scared are you?"** said the voice, though this time; there was an amused quality to it as if it found his lack of fear laughable.

"I am scared but I'm tired of wearing my emotions on my sleeves." replied Naruto as he approached the cage though he stopped a few scant meters away from it before peering into the cage while willing the darkness to disappear so he could see who he was talking to.

" **It seemed that the current idiocy of the villagers hardened my container."** The voice mused though Naruto could feel a tinge of anger and rage behind it which confused him. Why was the voice angry that he was attacked?

"Container?" Naruto asked the voice.

" **You already know who I am, boy."** The voice growled at him. **"I know that you have an intelligent mind, a prodigy you might say, that you chose to hide behind that stupid smile of yours. I know everything about you considering that I am inside you."**

Naruto thought about what the voice said. The voice of the villager who mentioned that he was the Kyuubi echoed in his head. If the villager was correct then…

"Kyuubi?" Naruto asked while dread rose from deep inside his hardening heart. But despite the admission, which he instinctively knew was correct; he continued to hold his gaze at the menacing red eyes staring back at him.

Instead of an answer, the blonde could hear movement from deep within the cage. It didn't take long for the owner of the voice to show itself and Naruto couldn't help but stare at the powerful figure in front of him.

The owner of the menacing eyes was gigantic and the physical structure was something that he only read in books. The creature was covered in red-orange fur. The facial structure was that of a fox though the rest of body was of a human-like structure. Nine large tails were waving behind the creature as if it had a life of its own.

" **You are correct, my container. I am the Kyuubi no Yoko. The nine-tailed demon fox."** Said Kyuubi as it revealed itself to its container and looking down at Naruto with a shrewd grin on its face.

"Why are you here? Didn't the Yondaime kill you five years ago? Better yet, where are we?" asked Naruto as he coldly stared at the legendary creature in front of him. He knew that he should be scared considering the tales he heard concerning the beast trapped in the cage in front of him; but he wasn't. In fact, he was more curious than scared and it showed with a slight tilt of his head that made him look like a fox.

Of course, Kyuubi saw the gesture and couldn't help but give a fang-filled grin at the fox-like attitude its container was showing.

" **To answer your question in order, I am here because I exist. The Yondaime didn't kill me but sealed me inside you since killing me was above his skills at that time nor it would ever reach such stage to deal me intense harm to purge my existence. And finally, we are inside your mind; or in this case, your soul."** Answered Kyuubi as he sat down on his haunches, tails wrapped around him. The posture was intimidating, to say the least.

"My soul…" Naruto trailed off as he digested the information. "If that is the case then you're sealed inside me. Meaning, the villagers were correct in saying that I am you."

Kyuubi shook its head and released a growl of anger which was followed by a wave of red energy that pushed past Naruto though the boy stood his ground and refused to give in to the menacing power that threatened to engulf him.

" **Don't insult me. You could never be me. Would a kunai placed in a storage scroll replace the name of the scroll? No human. You are not me. I am merely sealed inside you. You are my jailor, my container."** Kyuubi explained with a growl.

Naruto simply nodded at the explanation, his mind already processing the possibility of having the most powerful bijuu sealed inside him. There were questions plaguing his mind and he knew that the fox wouldn't be forthcoming with the information despite it knowing what he needed to know.

"I see. So this is the reason why the villagers kept attacking me and showing me nothing but hatred." Naruto said coldly with narrowed eyes, his mind running through the memories of the experience he faced from the residents of Konoha.

Kyuubi looked at those cold eyes and couldn't help but shiver at the intensity behind them. The bijuu could see that the current attack, a step up from the previous attempt to destroy its container, hardened the child in front of him.

No, its container could never be considered a child. Despite the age, the child in front of him was clearly a man.

A man that grew up in hatred and suffering that no human should ever be forced to endure.

" **You're correct, my container. However, that is neither here nor there. I'm sure you have questions in that prodigious mind of yours and you know that only I can grant you the answers you seek."**

"Correct, Kyuubi. But I don't see you being forthcoming with the information unless you get something out of it. If you're really a fox then it would only stand to reason that you have the same mannerism as your animal kin." Naruto drawled, recalling the book on the various animals given to him by his surrogate grandfather when he was taught how to read while he was still in the orphanage. Of course, he picked it up rather quickly and his photographic mind processing all the information it contained and embedding it into his thoughts in crystal clarity.

Kyuubi was amazed. Gone was the child in front of him to be replaced by a cold calculating human who was forced to endure the harshness of life. This was going to an enjoyable relationship. The bijuu shuddered in pleasure at the potential the boy, no man, held in him; a potential that can only be rivaled by a tailed beast. Kyuubi couldn't wait to tell its container of his proposition and it knew that it would be well received.

" **It seems that you know me well, my container. But despite what you think, my offer to answer your questions requires no payment. The 'seal' that keeps me inside you demands nothing less. You control everything and the only thing that was allowed of me by the Shinigami who supervised the sealing was access to your thoughts. The law of non-interference is in place and only you could lift it if you so desire."** The Kyuubi explained to its contained with a fanged grin.

"I see. So you would answer all my questions despite your unwillingness to do so. Interesting." Naruto mused out loud while looking around the room he was in. He noted the dreary atmosphere surrounding him. If this was his mind the he needed to do something about it. "You said that this is my soul and my mind?"

" **Yes."** Kyuubi said with a nod, curious as to what its container was thinking.

The bijuu saw its container close his eyes followed by a deep concentration on his face. It was speechless when the cavern morphed into pure darkness. Gone was the sewer-like cavern. Gone was the cage that held him in place. It was like as if the two of them were standing in darkness with no solid footing whatsoever.

Slowly, the darkness receded to reveal a large forest. Great trees with heights that reached the heavens above surrounded the large clearing they were in. The wet floor was replaced by a grassy field with flowers dotting here and there to add to its overall beauty. The final change was a sudden heat that seemed to surround its neck. It didn't take long for a collar to materialize around it with a name tag with the kanji of 'Seal' on its face.

Kyuubi growled in anger at being treated like a dog, a pet. A memory surfaced from its mind. A memory of red eyes with three black tomoes before darkness claimed him before he was sealed into the child. It's moment of anger was dispelled when its container spoke.

"Interesting. You were right when you said that I control everything in this place, my mindscape, so to speak." said Naruto as he looked around before his eyes settled on the collar that the bijuu was wearing. "Now that is an interesting development. I didn't 'imagine' the piece of accessory on your neck. It seemed that there is more to the Shinigami's seal. No matter how much I change the looks of my mindscape, the seal keeping you in place would still manifest itself in one form or another."

Kyuubi relaxed after hearing that explanation from the blonde. Its container didn't purposely place the demeaning accessory around its neck. It would let this go since its container had nothing to do with it.

" **You're correct, in a way."** said Kyuubi as it lay down on the soft grass, inwardly relishing the feel of nature underneath him. It was so long ago that he felt such sensation from nature and welcomed it with child-like glee. The bijuu made itself comfortable and crossed its front paws in front of him as he regarded its container who was already seated on the piece of rock that materialized behind him. It couldn't deny the fact that Naruto was a prodigy if he could command such change within his mind in just a short span of time. Intelligent men couldn't even begin to grasp the control that the brat had **. "So, boy. Tell me your questions and I will answer them to the best of my abilities."**

Naruto stared at the fox for a few seconds before the first question of many escaped his lips.

"What's your name?"

Kyuubi was surprised at the question. The bijuu was expecting more serious questions but the boy asked its name first. Interesting.

" **It seemed that you realized, how I don't know, that Kyuubi was a title and not my real name. I will humor you, human. My name is Kurama. A name given to me by my father."**

"Father?" Naruto asked curiously.

" **Yes, my father. The man that I owed my life to; the man that created me and the rest of my siblings; the man that is a legend of your kind; The Sage of the Six Paths, the Rikkudo Sennin."**

Now this piece of information surprised the blonde. He read that the Sage of the Six Paths was the founder of Ninjutsu but he didn't know the real history behind the man and the tailed beasts.

"I think this would be an interesting story to tell." said Naruto, not voicing his intent on learning the truth of the tailed beast though he knew that the fox would eventually tell him.

" **Indeed. If you're interested then listen well, human…"**

"Naruto. If we are going to hold a decent conversation then you might as well address me by my name, Kurama."

Kyuubi nodded to the request.

" **Naruto then. The story started with a great beast that ravaged the land when the Elemental Nations was still in its infancy. A beast that was even more powerful than I. The Juubi, the ten-tailed beast."**

"Ten tails? Now that is one part of history that I haven't heard about."

" **Of course you wouldn't since it happened a long time ago and was forgotten except for a few who loved to learn the true history of the world. But I digress, the Rikkudo Sennin, the man I considered as father, sealed the Juubi into his body, thus, making him the first jinchuuriki."**

"Jinchuuriki? Is that the name of those who had a demon sealed inside their body?" asked Naruto while unconsciously placing a hand on his stomach, not knowing that it was there that the seal of the Kyuubi was located.

" **Correct. But before I start, I commend you on having such knowledge. A five-year old such as yourself shouldn't know of such terms, more so understand them with ease."** Kyuubi complimented its container.

"I grew up faster than most, Kurama. It is both a blessing and a curse to be born with a well-developed mind. It was wrong of me to hide it but I had no choice in the matter if I wanted to live. However, I don't think I have the drive to live anymore unless I find something that would push me to continue in this dreadful existence that people call life." Naruto said bitter, his face grew colder if it was possible.

" **I have a proposition for you that you might find interesting but let me finish the story first since you expressed the desire to learn."** said Kyuubi. Naruto nodded in agreement. **"As I was saying, the Rikkudo Sennin, my father, was the first jinchuuriki which could be literally translated to 'Power of Human Sacrifice'." However, my father realized that the seal keeping the Juubi in place would shatter upon his death and release the demon again into the world of the living. So in order to avoid such powers from decimating the human race, my father used one of the techniques granted to him by the Rinnegan to separate the Juubi's chakra into nine entities. This gave birth to the tailed beasts that exist today."**

"The Rinnegan?" Naruto asked curiously, unfamiliar with the word.

" **The Rinnegan is the most powerful of the Three Great Eye Techniques that dwarfed the power of the Sharingan and Byakugan. According to my father, the Rinnegan allowed the user to have the power of Kami - the power of life and death, of creation and destruction. The Rikkudo Sennin used the creation powers of the Rinnegan to create nine living bodies to house the power of the Juubi, thus me and my brothers and sisters were born."**

"Interesting. I never knew that there were other eye techniques aside from the Byakugan and Sharingan." said Naruto as he rubbed his chin, an action that Kyuubi found weird considering that said person doing it was a boy. More like a man trapped in a boy's body.

" **There are other eye techniques aside from those three, minor ones with minor abilities that merited no distinction from the Great Three."**

"I see. Thanks for answering my question, Kurama. Please continue."

" **Anyway, the human race is prideful at best and couldn't stand the thought of having entities more powerful than them so thus began their goal to capture our powers and seal them into humans that they could control. However, we were too powerful for them and only father's descendants had the power to truly control us if the need arises."**

"Descendants? The Rikkudo Sennin had children?" Naruto asked in excitement. This was a piece of history that no longer existed and he craved to learn more.

" **Yes. It was hidden from the human race that the Rikkudo Sennin fathered three children who became legends in their own right. These three children were blessed by father with his own powers which manifested differently in all three of them. The firstborn was the father of the Senju Clan who inherited father's calming presence. This was the reason why Senju Hashirama had the power to subdue and calm us even when under the fit of rage. His Mokuton bloodline was the manifestation of father's power in him."**

" **The second born was the father of the Uchiha Clan and was gifted with father's eye, though it mutated to become the Sharingan as it is known today. The eye held its own unique abilities depending on the owner's power and mindset but its ultimate power towards the tailed beast was to put us in an illusion to trigger the rage we inherited from the Juubi. However, such power was sealed until the Sharingan's ultimate level is unlocked."**

" **Finally, the youngest son was the father of the Uzumaki Clan and gifted by father's god-like body. This was one of the reasons why the Uzumaki Clan was the fit holder of the tailed beast since they inherited the Sage's tolerance towards the bijuu's potent chakra. A side-effect to this is their healing factor and potent chakra reserves which you display in abundance, as well as their longer life span."**

"So you mean that my ability to heal rapidly from the various wounds I sustained from the attacks was because of the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline?" Naruto asked, mind already processing the information Kurama imparted to him.

" **Yes and no. You have the healing factor that is unique to your clan alone but it was further amplified by my presence inside you. It is known for a jinchuuriki to display the traits of the tailed beasts inside of them, like Shukaku's jinchuuriki who had complete dominion over sand and wind."**

"So what did I get from you if each jinchuuriki displayed unique traits according to the bijuu sealed inside them?"

" **Aside from the boost on your healing abilities that would be an invaluable asset in the battlefield, you have the ability to properly to reach a certain level of master over your regeneration that you would become a pseudo immortal. Hell is you work hard enough you can literally slow your aging process or even halt it."**

"Hmmm… that is interresting, but that is not all you are offering me is it?"

" **Correct. I also offer to teach you how to use chakra at its fullest, I am one of the oldest beings alive in the world and I was sealed inside two other Uzumakis so I should be able to impart some of their knowledge on you, but we must keep this a secret for now at least."**

"I agree with you there. There are only a few I trust in this village - the Hokage which I treat like a grandfather, the Ichiraku Family, and some of the shinobis in the village who protected me from the attacks." said Naruto as he mentally listed the few people who he considered precious to him.

" **I know. As I told you, Naruto, I have access to your memories so everything that you experienced is known to me."**

"Hmmm." Was Naruto's reponse before nodding. "So, Kurama, when would this lessons begin?" asked Naruto with a little bit of excitement in his voice.

" **As soon as you're ready, Naruto. But I suggest that we hold that thought for now since it's time for you to wake up.** "

Naruto agreed with that. He could sense his consciousness inside his mindscape wavering, meaning that he was waking up in the real world. He gave Kurama a smile which was his true smile.

"Thank you for being forthcoming with me, Kurama. I will see you soon." said Naruto before disappearing from the midscape. He opened his eyes in the real world and found himself in a familiar room with white-washed walls. He turned his head to see the Hokage looking at him with a worried look on his face.

 **Flashback end**

And that was the start of Naruto's training, and boy was the bijuu a slave driver, she thought him an old way of using chakra. You see in the old days people did not categorize jutsu under any of the current branches, they had three categories so to speak

 **Burst** : In summation, Burst is the ability to manipulate the world around one's own self. In essence, a person is able to channel and manipulate chakra or matter in the surrounding environment. In essence all ninjutsu fall under this categorie.

 **Trance** : At its most basic form, it is the ability to manipulate the minds of others. So far, it has been used to read minds, "dive" into memories and force the target to see illusions. The Yamanaka clan hijutsu and genjutsu fall under this categorie.

 **Rise:** Rise is used to manipulate any of the user's senses. Rise powers can be further subdivided into three types: Sense, Strength and Healing

Sense-type Rise: This type increases either any one of the 5 senses or all of the 5 senses of the user (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch) to extraordinary levels and also increases the user's reflexes. The yondaime raikage A was a prime exemple of that with his **Raiton no yoroi.**

Strength-type Rise: This type focuses on the user's physical body, increasing the body's physical strength, speed and endurance. It can simply be referred to as Super Human Strength. Tsunade Senju used a bastardised version of Strength-type Rise with her super strenght technique.

Healing-type Rise: This type ties into Strength-type but focuses more towards the body's endurance. When trained properly, the user can reduce the amount of damage being taken and how long it will take for their body to recover from damage such as a large cut or bruise. There are also other types of people who can "share their rise to another person and heal their body instead of their own", one of the most known user's of this type of rise was the Shodaime Hokage Hashirama Senju.

What made this type of chakra training was that a person was attuned to a certain type of manipulation, of course he could use the other two but they will never achieved the mastery over it like their primary type of manipulation. Fortunately for Naruto he was a Rise user specialising in healing type Rise. That meant that Kurama drilled him in physical conditioning. The bijuu also analyses his chakra and found that he had the same type as his mother's, but unlike hers that created chains, his took the form of Seeds of chakra which can be planted in any spot to "take root". They can also take root in human bodies. From there many things are possible. They called it _Seimei no Ki "Tree of Life"_. Also thanks to Kurama he unlocked an ability of the sensing skills of the Uzumaki clan the ability of empathy and thanks to said ability he saw the thrice colors of Hiruzen Sarutobi, while the elder Hokage respected and cared for him somewhat, he only saw him as Konoha's weapon and jinchuriki. That allowed the blonde to make his decision to leave konoha.

 **Flashback start**

In Naruto's rat infested shithole of an appartement, Naruto was busy preparing himself for leaving Konohagakure no Sato, it had been one year since his meeting with Kurama and the bijuu gave him the OK to leave konoha, sealing all his belongings in a sealing scroll which he sealed on his body, he then took a chakra seed inside his hand and put it on the ground, he went through some handsigns and finishing with a modified ram sign, he yelled " _ **Seimei no Ki Mandragora bunshin "Tree of Life Mandragora clone"**_ **.** One of the first jutsu he created, by charging a chakra seed with his chakra he could create a solid clone of himself, teh clone had some his abilities, and while it might not be combat based, it still could not be dispelled even with a killing blow, all that would do was make it a corpse, the ideal jutsu to either fake your death or have it replace you. He then turned turned to the clone and slammed his hand on the clones stomach, an intricate pattern appeared on its stomach, looking a lot like a **Hakke no Fuinjutsu Shiki,** at the same time Naruto sealed a bout six tails of bijuu chakra inside the clone to keep him from dying easily. He looked at his creations and said

"you know what to do." the clone just answered and took a scroll wich it sealed in the wall under the graffiti.

"hai boss." and like none the wiser and with the jinchuriki of the kyubi left Konoha under the cover of the night, while the rest of Konoha was celebrating the kyubi festival.


	2. Chapter 2

_**The puppeteer of Life**_

 **Chapter 2**

"What do you want me to do with this, Sarutob i Sensei?" asked Tsunade monotously. She appears to be a beautiful woman in her late twenties or early thirties with long blonde hair tied into two long pigtails, brown eyes and more than a handful of breasts that seem too hard to ignore, anti perverts included. She is dressed in dark blue pants and a grey, tight fitting and sleeveless top, giving rise to the illusion that her breasts might pop out at any given moment.

Sarutobi Hiruzen stared at his student silently, contemplating how to start the almost inevitable argument that might ensure courtesy of his stubborn student whilst blowing a few puffs of smoke from his pipe. No doubt he would have to choose his words carefully here, and maybe a great degree of manipulation might be needed to get things to go his way. The village had suffered a big blow, losing the last loyal Uchiha to Orochimaru was not something to be taken lightly, Orochimaru couldn't be allowed to gain such a powerful tool like the sharingan, he didn't know anyone that could stop him if that happened. What made matters even worse was losing Naruto kun and the Kyubi, how could Tsunade have been foolish enough as to send a wet behind the ear genin squad on such a high level mission was beyond his comprehension. He understood that she had had faith in Minato's son, so did he, the boy had always and consistently thrived against odds that would have crushed the spirit of even some of the war veterans in this ninja world, but he just couldn't justify the gamble that Tsunade had made, or maybe he was just angry that Konoha had lost its most important weapon, he himself was not sure what the true source of his discontent was.

These were the thoughts of Sarutobi Hiruzen, a 68 year old man with grey/white, spiky hair with a small, white goatee, he has numerous wrinkles and a few liver spots on his face, and is dressed in a long, white robe with black ninja sandals. Many had been completely shocked when they had seen him walking the streets in broad daylight, thinking him to be a ghost. He had been later forced to give a speech to the konoha populace, vaguely describing the details pertaining to his false death, of course a much more detailed explanation was given to the shinobi council. He had explained how he used the Fourth's dead demon consuming seal to seal away Orochimaru's arms, and the price that was required for the use of the jutsu, the price being that the shinigami would devour the user's soul.

He then went on to explain how he had used the Uzamaki clan's blood clone, which the Shodaime had listed in the forbidden scroll of jutsu, during the time that the resurrected Nidaime Hokage had used his Bringer Of Darkness Technique. The blood clone, similar to a shadow clone, split the user's chakra in half and had a complete personality of its own. Hiruzen had theorised that since the clone had the same chakra as him, and an independent personality, than it should also mean that the clone actually contained a part of his soul, as further proven by the fact that, should he dispel the clone, not only would the chakra used to create the clone be returned to the user, but the memories of the clone as well. He had than delved into the medical field, from which had been stated the requirements for something to be considered a living being, and to be more specific, human . It had to have actual organs, had to respire, excrete, consume, digest, have a soul amongst other things. This is where he had found a loop hole in the shingami's contract terms, because a great amount of blood had been used, the blood clone was an actual clone, having real organs and having real dna, it could eat, excete, respire etc, and it had half of his soul in it and an independent personality, it was a true living being in its own right, although it still had to take commands from him, nonetheless the shingami had no choice but to acknowledge his theory and had in fact complemented him, praising him for being only the second man to ever outwit him, though refusing to divulge the name of the other person to have escaped his clutches. Still, the demi god had warned that he would take his whole soul regardless if he tried pulling a stunt like that again.

"Those are the pictures and stats of Haruno Sakura and Kurama Yakumo." Stated Hiruzen in a matter of fact tone.

"I know who they are! I don't have time to play your stupid mind games you old fool! What do you want me to do with this, with these little girls!" asked/screamed the senju princess, trying and almost failing to hold back her violent tendencies against the old goat.

She didn't understand, couldn't he see she was hurting, couldn't he see her suffering? Her whole reason for returning here was dead, no, he wasn't just her reason, he had been her last hope, she had put her faith in him, faith that he would succeed her and be the best Hokage ever, faith that he would be able to defy and break the curse of that necklace. Couldn't he see that in naruto, she had not only lost her reason for returning, but she had lost her son in everything but blood, did he really think now was the time for him to be playing these mindless games with her! After all that had happened, she didn't even know if she wanted this job anymore, not after kakashi returned with naruto's forehead protector and that necklace, not after the partying and celebrations that had ensured in the village right after she had announced his death.

That had made her furious, prompting her to reveal his heritage just to spite them, announcing that their demon whose death they were celebrating was the one and only son of their beloved Yondaime Hokage, even providing the evidence for them to see for themselves. She had even asked them how it is that they couldn't see the resemblance between the two.

She had however soon regretted her decision to reveal such information, because Ichiraku Ayame had been murderous when she heard that. The girl had accused her and the village hierarchy as the guilty parties for naruto's suffering for hiding such vital information, saying that she, as Naruto's surrogate sister knew better than anyone that naruto, more than anything else had suffered because of his lack of identity, that the boy had wanted to know more than anything else who his family was, whether they loved or hated him, whether they died or abandoned him? Ayame had claimed that they had no right to hide such information from him, and she had even insisted that had they not hidden that information to the konoha populace, that his life would have turned out a lot better.

Tsunade had chasticed her for her stupidity and argued that if the girl really cared about Naruto as much as she claimed she did, than she would have understood that Iwagakure and possibly Kumogakure would have sent assassins after naruto, as they would have feared his potential, and who knows what other enemies Minato might have had. Of course Ayame would not stand for it, shrugging off the kage level killing intent Tsunade had been directing towards her in the process, arguing that if that was the case, than why did they announce that he had the kyubi, because having the kyubi inside of him made him even more dangerous to konoha's enemies than being the son of the fourth, since the fox must have been stronger than the fourth if the fourth died in his battle against it, while the kyubi still lived. She had also argued that if the law about the fox had kept Naruto's jinchuuriki status from being leaked outside the village, than a similar law about him being the fourth's son would have been enough to contain that information while giving naruto the sense of identity he had craved and obliterating the hate that had been directed towards him in the process.

This had served to turn the tables against Tsunade and the villagers had felt heavily offended and had started to riot not only against her but the whole konoha hierarchy, but especially her and the Sandaime Hokage. Though, Ayame had been quick to rebuke the citizens too, claiming that they had no right to riot since they shouldn't have needed to know that he was the son of the Fourth in order to treat her little brother like he deserved to be. She had than told everyone how disgusted she was in this whole village and she, along with her father had stated their intentions to leave the village and find another place to live as soon as they could. Tsunade had gone home and cried herself to sleep for hours in grief, shame, and regret afterwards, Ayame's words had cut through her like a knife through butter.

As if matters were not bad enough, princess Koyuki, Tazuna the Mayor, bridge builder, and now current CEO of Wave Trade Corporations, and Daimyo Toki of Bird Country had somehow found out about the boy's treatment, probably from the foreign merchants that had been trading in the village at the time his death had been announced. They had immediately refused to have any association with the place that cursed their Hero to such a terrible childhood, cutting all ties with the village hidden in the leaves. It is needless to say that things were not looking good for Tsunade and her village, if things carried on spiralling downwards like this, than she would surely be destined to be known as the worst Kage in all of Konoha's history.

"Tsunade…Tsunade…..TSUNADE!" shouted Hiruzen, effectively breaking the Senju Princess from her depressing thoughts.

"What!" shouted the buxom blonde irritably.

"Ahem, as I was saying, I want you to authorise a medical scan on the Kurama clan heiress and see if there isn't anything you can do about her physical condition, I also want you to enlist her under team Kakashi as Sasuke kun's replacement should you be able to heal her. It would also be nice if you could have her also train with Might Guy kun's team and with Yuhi Kurenai on a part time basis. I'm sure I do not need to explain my reasons for this request do I?" asked Hiruzen in his usual grandfatherly tone.

Of course Tsunade had already picked up on Sarutobi's intentions, otherwise she wouldn't have been worthy of the title of Kage if she couldn't figure it out. With the possible extinction of the Uchiha clan, Konoha would lose the overwhelming Genjutsu advantage they had enjoyed against the other great ninja villages in the past wars. If it should happen that they failed to retrieve the sharingan, and by extension, rebuild the Uchiha clan, than it was mandatory that they found a replacement for that role, and the Kurama clan would be the perfect replacement. She also understood the team placement, if the girl trained and practised against someone with the sharingan, like Kakashi, than she might be a key figure later on against Orochimaru, if he was successful in attaining the sharingan for himself, or otherwise she could also help defeat and subdue Uchiha Sasuke if she was involved in any future retrieval missions, missions that would most likely be conducted by team 7. Training with team 8 would give her a fellow genjutsu specialist from which she could bounce off jutsu ideas and training with Guy would allow her to gain the fitness and strength that is required of a shinobi, it would also be to her benefit if she didn't completely rely on her genjutsu, perhaps becoming a taijutsu specialist as a secondary objective would help her become a strong ally for konoha,that is, if she was successful in healing the girl, though she didn't think it would be too hard for her to do it.

"No you don't, but why do you have so much faith in her, she hates Konoha's guts and has been nothing more than a prisoner in her own home, does she even have her powers anymore, according to these records, the Idou demon, which was a manifestation of her powers was destroyed with N-Naruto's help?" asked the Godaime, her voice almost breaking at the mention of that name.

"Wrong, the Idou demon was not a manifestation of her powers, but a manifestation of the darkness in her heart, it was only able to utilise her powers better than her because it knew how to on an instinctual level, not because it was the owner of the power, with the demon now out of the way, Yakumo chan can now, with proper guidance, learn how to properly utilise her abilities." Explained Hiruzen.

"So we should give a person who hates our guts the opportunity to gain access to the power she needs to destroy us?" asked Tsunade with bitter sarcasm.

"Don't be childish Tsunade, do you not understand the other reason for putting this girl in this particular team?" asked Sarutobi.

At the Godaime's blank expression, Hiruzen found himself having to hide his exasperation in order to keep the farcade of a kind, grandfatherly, and honest old man whilst explaining what, in his deceptively manipulative eyes should have been obvious.

"Naruto kun's last wish when he died was to retrieve and save his best friend from Orochimaru's clutches, he gave his all to accomplish this one goal, and was even willing to die trying if need be. Naruto kun was someone…the only person that Yakumo chan held dear to her heart and Naruto kun had promised to save her from her loneliness and help her become a ninja again when he became Hokage. All we have to do is convince her that you are trying to fulfil Naruto kun's promise for her to be a ninja again, and when she finds out about Naruto kun's resolve to rescue Sasuke kun, she will most likely make it her goal to do the same to honour his memory. Furthermore, you already know about Kakashi's strict believes about protecting comrades, by training with Kakashi, she will learn to love and protect her comrades, making it easier for her to form bonds with her team, Kurenai, and Guy's team. When these bonds have formed…"

"Yeh yeh I get it, when those bonds are formed, her hatred for konoha will dissolve, or at the very least, she will not be willing to destroy the village for as long as those people are living here." Cut in Tsunade.

Yes, you took the words right out of my mouth." Said Hiruzen casually, taking a few puffs out of his pipe.

"And what about this Haruno girl, what should I do with her?" asked the Godaime with a confused expression on her face.

"You are going to take her on as an apprentice, she will excel under your guidance, she fits the requirements to make an excellent future medic, high IQ, good memory and study habits, and excellent chakra control, it would also help her get out of her depression and regain some confidence. You should also consider what Naruto kun…"

"What does Naruto have to do with this, I don't care what you say, I am not taking an apprentice!" snapped Tsunade.

"Remember that this is the girl whom Naruto loved the most, actually, his resolve to return Sasuke kun stemmed from his determination to fulfil his promise to her, in a way, it is not too farfetched to conclude that naruto kun in actual fact sacrificed his life for her sake. How do you think Naruto kun would feel if the love of his life died on a mission because the woman he thought of as a mother was not willing to help her?" asked Hiruzen, making Tsunade look down in shame, which in turn caused him to smirk behind his pipe, she was so gullable and easy to manipulate, especially in the emotional and fragile state she was in, this was child's play, it seemed like he shouldn't have been too worried about the outcome of this conversation.

"This…this is all your fault.." said Tsunade.

"What do mean Tsunad…"

"This is all your fault! If you had not forced me to leave him when he was still a baby, if you hadn't made me abandon him and betray Kushina's trust, than he would have been raised properly, I would have trained him and he would have been able to defeat that stupid Uchiha brat, this is all your fault you old goat! How dare you try to make me out to look like the bad guy here!" screamed Tsunade with endless tears of grief falling freely from her eyes.

"Tsunade…have you forgotten the real reason why I took Naruto kun away from you, did you forget how you almost burned the house down, almost killing both you and the boy in your drunken stupor. Or how you occasionally ditched a baby alone in the house to go drinking and gambling, have you forgotten how many times I warned you to get help for your drinking and gambling problem so that you could take better care of him? How is this not your fault, but my fault instead?" asked Sarutobi, giving the Godaime an ice cold stare, completely ditching his loving grandfather act, this was now the kami no shinobi, the professor and master manipulator, no longer the kind old man.

"Y-you promised, you promised you would take care of him, Kushina chan wrote many letters to me, asking how her naru chan was growing, I did as you said I should, I told her that he was doing just fine, that he was growing well, because that is what you told me in your letters, I was a fool to have believed you, you pathological lyer! Me and Shizune reviewed the medical records in the hospital recently, beatings, poisoning, malnutrition, broken limbs? How can you call that growing up normally you corniving bastard! If I had known then…"

"Then what? You would have taken him, and took him to all the casino's and the pubs you visited! You would have lit another fire and burned both yourselves to death? Tsunade, you were grieving and bitter about your past, Naruto kun reminded you too much of the brother you lost, and the son you could have had with Dan. The fact that Kushina would one day come back and take him away from you was also preventing you from bonding with the child, it was best that you let me take care of him instead."

"Except you didn't you spineless bastard, you left him to the wolves, Naruto was not only physically underdeveloped, but mentally and emotionally as well, how dare you claim to have taken care of him! If I had known I would have at least told Kushina to come back and take care of him!" screamed Tsunade furiously, how dare this old fool act like a saint in spite of his glaring faults and short comings.

"Call back Kushina? As if I would have allowed that, allowing a woman who dreamed of rebuilding Uzushiogakure no saito with her children raise Konoha's jinchuuriki, all she would have done was to extinguish his will of fire with those ambitions. Your will of fire had also been extinguished after your losses, I had to be the one to raise him in order to keep his will burning, why can't you see that, my foolish student, your grandfather and granduncle would have been ashamed of you." Thought Hiruzen.

"Look, we both made our fare share of mistakes, but regrets are not going to change the past, nor is this infighting between us, the best course of action is to honour Naruto kun's memory as best we can, and please remember that you are not the only one that is grieving Naruto kun's death, there are many others, your future student included, and for what it is worth, I'm sorry." Said Hiruzen diplomatically.

"Fine! I will speak to Haruno Sakura tomorrow morning and see what I can do, and what of the third member of the team, and what will happen to the traitor? I propose we collect a sufficient amount of sperm samples from him, and then I shall personally and publicly execute him. We can then allow healthy, and willing woman to carry his seeds and rebuild a new, non traitorous Uchiha clan." Stated Tsunade darkly.

'If that happened, not only would we lose Itachi kun's loyalty but we would also have Itachi kun out to destroy us, and he has a whole organisation of Kage level shinobi to support him, no, killing Sasuke kun is not an option.' Thought Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"I have a better idea Tsunade..." said the old monkey neutrally.

"A better idea, what could be better than that?" asked the Senju princess suspiciously.

"If we kill Sasuke kun, we would be without a battle ready Uchiha for at least twelve years, and who knows if there aren't any spies in the village that could give away information about the little Uchiha infants..."

"What do you suggest than! That he should get away with a slap on the wrist, so that he can just betray us again the first chance he gets! Have you gone senile in your old age!" asked Tsunade furiously.

"Once again I would like to beg you not to be childish, Tsunade. Who do you think I am, a genin?" asked Sarutobi, blasting Tsunade with his kage level KI.

"Alright whatever, you better not say something stupid though, I won't tolerate it, it would serve you well to accept that I don't take orders from you, I am now the Hokage!" said Tsunade, releasing her own KI.

"Fare enough, now as was saying, I would like to suggest that Sasuke kun be inducted into the root program, me and D..."

"What! I knew it, you've gone senile haven't you, you rotten old bag of shit, how long do you think I've been trying to get rid of that illegal organisation!" screamed Tsunade, smashing her fist on the table.

"I have no idea how long you have been trying, but let me say, if you have not succeeded yet, than you are even more pathetic than I thought." Stated Sarutobi darkly, giving the Godaime a chilling stare.

"W-what do you mean, haven't you always despised that program, didn't you spend your entire reign trying to destroy that organisation?" sputtered the busty Kage.

"Oh my foolish little student, have you forgotten who you're talking too? I am The Kami no Shinobi, and I am The Professor , and this is Konohagakure no Saito, did you honestly believe that a whole ninja army could hide itself from me right in the middle of my ninja village? Than Iwa and Kumo might as well bring their own armies here, and hide right under our roof before they destroy us." Stated Hiruzen bitterly, an insulted facial expression etched on his face.

"W-what do you mean...what are you talking about, are you trying to say that you could have ended this all this time but chose to do nothing about it?" asked Tsunade, eyes wide in disbelief.

"The R.O.O.T program is you granduncle's legacy, long before he announced me as the Sandaime Hokage, he had already given me instructions about how to handle things when I took over his seat..."

"What are you talking about!" cut in Tsunade , her knuckles turning white from gripping the edges of the table so hard.

"I would appreciate it if you stopped interrupting me..." scolded the old man.

"Thank you, now Tobirama sama instructed me to allow Danzo to be head of the organisation when I took leadership. After a couple of decades, I was to officially discontinue the organisation, but unofficially allow Danzo to continue with his work. But, in order to keep up the farcade that I was truly against the program, it was required that me and Danzo sacrifice our friendship and that I pretend to stand against everything that Danzo and his R.O.O.T stand for. The Hokage has to inspire greatness in his people,the people must believe that their Hokage loves each and every one of them, that he his kind, just, and caring, it is important that the people have this image of their leader, it is important that the leader inspires courage and love from his people, and it is important that the Hokage ignites and nurtures their will of fire..."

"What! Are you trying to tell me that to be Hokage is to live a fake life, to pretend be something you're not? Are you telling me that you and Danzo are literally one and the same, grains from the same bag of salt?" asked Tsunade hysterically. She couldn't help it, who was this man? This couldn't be her sensei, how could he be so cruel as to support that man and his methods, was this really her granduncle's doing, was his love for Konoha, for the people of the village just an act too?

"Tsunade, I know what you might be thinking, but you're a war veteran, you of all people should understand how much sacrifice is required for a village like ours to continue to prosper, do you know how many enemies Konoha has, do you know how much the R.O.O.T program has done and sacrificed to ensure the continued existence and peace for our people. The R.O.O.T 's way is not only for the protection of the civilians, but our official ninja as well, our own shinobi would never be able to handle the mental trauma that a member of the foundation is forced to endure, it also helps that their activities cannot be traced back to us, as the program is officially nonexistent. Tsunade, the ninja way is a life of sacrifice, we did not become shinobi so that we can feel good about ourselves, nor did we become shinobi for our own sakes, we became ninja for the sake of the people, the citizens of Konoha, our own happiness does not matter, it was forfeit the day we made our vows to the village, we live, die, kill, and do all kinds of cruel things for our people, that is shinobi, do not judge me, Danzo, or you granduncle or grandfather for that matter, we do what we need to do in order to keep the flame burning, for our beloved people, if you truly care about your people, about your father's legacy, than you will consider what I have said, now, let me be on my way, we will talk tomorrow." Said Hiruzen, now standing on his feet, getting ready to leave.

"Wait, what about the fourth member for team seven?" asked Tsunade hastily.

"Oh that,that will be Naruko chan of course, she is to arrive in two and half years with her mother, she's the perfect replacement for Naruto kun don't you think?" asked Hiruzen.

"I-I see..."

"Good, you will have two and a half years to prepare Haruno Sakura, tell Kakashi, Gai, and Kurenai to prepare the Kurama heiress, tell them to train her to the best of their abilities, without neglecting their own students of course, we don't want Naruko chan to be too much ahead of the rest, she will have incredible strength, if I know Kushina chan well enough." Said Sarutobi.

"She is not a registered ninja of Konoha, do you think she would still want to serve Konoha when she hears about her brother?" asked Tsunade nervously, her voiced laced with sadness and regret.

'Tsunade, you're so naive, there is still a lot that I have to teach you, but you will come around in time.' Thought the professor.

"Tsunade, her situation is not too different from Yakumo chan's, it should not be too difficult for you to convince her to follow in Naruto kun's footsteps and to complete his last wishes, you're the Hokage, it shouldn't be difficult for you to get a child to see things your way, good day, my dear student." said the old man, aiming to depart as quickly before she could decipher the underlying message in his words.

"Wait sensei!"

'Damn it, never thought it would be this hard to get her to see things my way, I was hoping she would be alone by the time she got it.'

"Yes, Tsunade chan?" asked Sarutobi calming, having quickly composed himself.

"I, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, for blaming everything on you, and for doubting your love for the village, I think I understand things a little better, I'll think about what you said, about the R.O.O.T program, and Sasuke's fate, and everything else, good day." Said Tsunade sincerely, waiting for the old man to leave so that she can get something to drink from her secrete stash, before Shizune sniffs it out.

"It is okay, we all make mistakes, what is important is that we can move on and forgive each other, we'll talk again sometime, goodbye for now" said Sarutobi, exitting the room with haste, leaving the Senju princess with only her own thoughts for company.

 **Akatsuki Hideout in the west...**

"Zetsu, why have you called an emergency meeting? I do hope that you have a valid reason for calling upon us on such short notice?" asked/threatened a holographic figure. The figure seems to be dressed in long ninja pants, a long cloak with cloud designs on it. He has spiky, messy hair and his eyes have a darkish pupil with concentric circles around the irises.

"Oh, we have very disturbing news, the kyubi jinchuuriki has perished and there are no signs of the kyubi reforming itself." Answered Zetsu, a plant like being with messy green hair and gold coloured eyes, with the right eye being pupil less, he also appears to have two different halves, a black left side and a white coloured right side of his body, and speaks as if he is two different people, the right side seems to represent the more mature personality of the two. The man appears to have a venus fly trap growing from his torso, extending beyond his head. The man is wearing the standard Akatsuki outfit with a black, high collard cloak with black clouds on it.

"..."

"..."

"..."

To say everyone was shocked was an understatement, even the normally stone faced Uchiha Itachi failed to hide is shock at the devastating news, his eyes wide in disbelief and surprise. Hoshigaki Kisame however smirked in amusement, being one to always take satisfaction whenever his partner tried and failed to hide his emotions, a rare but entertaining sight indeed.

"How did this happen?" asked the leader in a calm manner, being the first to recover from his shock, though everyone could feel the edge in his tone regardless of his calm demeaner.

"He has been murdered by Uchiha Sasuke during a retrieval mission. Sasuke has joined that vile vermin Orochimaru." Said Zetsu.

"Uchiha Sasuke has ruined our plans hn, for that, I will end his ugly existence and turn it into my beautiful art, hn, what do you think, Sasori no dana?" exclaimed Deidara enthusiastically.

"Why don't you ask Itachi, I don't give a damn about Uchiha Sasuke." Replied the man now identified as Sasori.

"Shut up you art freak! We don't need your stupid pop art, I will deliver his unrighteous soul to Jashin sama, ne Kakuzu?" exclaimed Hidan in anticipation.

"No, I refuse to participate in your religious nonsense." Replied Kakuzu in irritation.

"Why you...!"

"ENOUGH!" cut in Pein, leaking large doses of KI not directed at anyone in particular but felt by everyone nonetheless.

"Zetsu, where is the boy's body?" asked Pein, the leader of the organisation.

"His body has not been recovered yet, Konoha hunter nin have been searching the valley of the end for days now." Explained Zetsu.

"I see, Itachi, Kisame, I want the two of you to eliminate those hunter nin and find his body before they do, understood?" instructed the leader.

"Hai, leader sama!" answered the duo.

"Good, you are all dismissed.."

"If I may ask, what do you intend to do with the boy's body, leader sama?" asked the stoic Uchiha

"I will resurrect him and see if the kyubi will return with him, if it doesn't, than I will interrogate him for the information of its whereabouts." Stated Pein, giving the Uchiha an unnerving stare.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Um...leader, I was not aware you knew the impure world resurrection technique, I doubt a traitor like Orochimaru would have been forthcoming with that kind of information?" asked Itachi, everyone else wondering the same thing.

"I do not know that jutsu, I have a better one, one that is an actual resurrection, unlike the inferior Nidaime's Jutsu. Do not be surprised though, it is only natural that a God should wield this kind of power, now get going, I will say no more on this matter!" ordered Pein.

"Hai!" said Itachi respectfully as he, along with all the other holograms disappeared from the cave, leaving only Pein, his right hand, Konan, and Zetsu.

Not even a quarter of a minute later, a man dressed in the standard Akatsuki outfit with short spiky hair and an orange mask with one eye hole appears from a swirling vacuum of what appears to be a high level space time jutsu.

"Pein, Zetsu, Konan chan..." said the man in a raspy, mocking voice, greeting his subordinates/partners.

"Madara/Tobi." Said Zetsu and Pein simultaneously, Konan choosing to remain silent, refusing to acknowledge the unappreciated and in her eyes, disrespectful manner to which she was addressed.

"What are we going to do about this, if Itachi and Kisame are unable to find the boy's body?" asked Pein.

"Do not trouble yourself, I have a plan B, for now, we will continue with business as scheduled." Answered the masked figure.

"What are we going to do about Uchiha Sasuke, perhaps he knows the location of the jinchuuriki's body? Or maybe Orochimaru took it to use as one of his experiments?" asked Zetsu.

"You will leave Sasuke alone, I have big plans for that boy, our goals have not changed, we will conduct our business as usual, if there's nothing else, I would like be on my way." Said Madara as he disappeared into a swirling portal, not even giving his subordinates a chance to object to his ubrupt departure.

"I'm out of here, see around Konan san, Leader sama." Said Zetsu before disappearing into the ground.

"Pein, I don't trust that Uchiha." Stated Konan. Pein just stared at his confidant inquisitively, if there was anyone who had his absolute trust and confidence, it was definitely her, and he didn't ever question her judgement, she was almost always accurate in her observations. If she didn't think someone was trustworthy, than that person was already a traitor in his eyes.

"Which Uchiha?" asked Pein neutrally.

"Both of them." Stated Konan with conviction.

"I understand your doubts about Madara, but Itachi?" asked Pein, raising one eyebrow at Konan.

"When we approached Itachi, his actions beforehand had indicated that he was severely unstable, violent, and homicidal, after all, who massacres his own entire clan just for the sake of testing his abilities? But..."

"But what?" asked Pein curiously.

"This Itachi is completely different from what we have been led to believe, he was too much emotional and self control, I don't believe for a second that this is the person that supposedly snapped and eliminated his loved ones, nor do I believe that he is as cruel or violent as he pretends to be, according to Kisame, and from what I have observed myself, Itachi is a pacifist who will try by all means to complete his goals without conflict, using violence as a last resort, once again a complete contradiction to what we have been led to believe. I also do not like the way he looks at you..." stated Konan with an uncharacteristic frown on her otherwise neutral facial expression.

"The way he looks at me?" asked Pein with a confused and uncertain undertone.

"I ahh...that's not what I meant!" shouted Konan, an uncharacteristic tinge of red forming on her cheeks.

"Oh...what did you mean then?" asked Pein, almost sighing in relief.

"I meant that he always seems to be sizing you up, like he wants to know all the secretes of your powers, as if he is preparing himself to fight you one day, he is very subtle about it, but have you noticed how much interest he seems to show whenever there is mention of your abilities. He also seems to always try to get involved whenever you personally handle missions, have you not noticed that?" asked Konan.

"No, I hadn't, I appreciate your bringing this to my knowledge, I'll have zetsu keep an eye on him. If he should betray us, than he will have to face my rath, Kami's rath!" said Pein with conviction.

"Good, but don't underestimate him." Warned Konan.

"I do not underestimate anyone, now let us go, we have work to do." Ordered Pein as his solute disappeared from the cave, not giving Konan a chance to reply.

 **Unspecified Location...**

Two individuals, sitting cross legged on two boulders opened their eyes simultaneously. One is a very tall and muscled man with a distinctive shark-like appearance complete with blue skin, small, round white eyes, gill like markings under his eyes and the trademark sharp, triangular teeth of The Seven Swordsman of the Mist. His dark blue hair is styled in the shape of a shark fin with a personalised forehead protector that also covers his ears, and is dressed in the standard Akatsuki outfit with a giant sword on his back. This man goes by the name Hoshigaki Kisame, otherwise known as The Monster of the Mist.

The other man is a significantly shorter 17 year old individual of average height with intense, dark eyes and black hair that hangs near his cheeks to frame his face with the rest kept in a pony tail which is obscured by the high collar of his cloak. The man is also dressed in the standard outfit of the organisation and is known by the name Uchiha Itachi, The Clan Slayer.

"Hehehe, I can't believe the kyubi jinchuuriki died, he didn't strike me as one who would die so easily, despite his lack of skill, he had quite a strong fire. Though, I guess even with the power of the Kyubi, he wasn't enough to take out a talented Uchiha, your brother is something else, ne Itachi? " asked Kisame with his trademark toothy grin in place, not even attemting to hide his amusement.

"Naruto kun had many admirable character traits, but intelligence was not one of them, with overwhelming power without the brains to use it effectively, Naruto kun never stood a chance, in the end, if Sasuke had not been able to win, than he would have not been worthy as a rival to test my abilities." Stated Itachi with ice cold indifference, now walking side by side with his companion.

"Tche...you're as cold as ever Itachi san, demo...I wonder, what are you going to do now?" asked Kisame.

"We are going to fire country to retrieve Naruto kun's body, that is what Leader ordered is it not?" asked Itachi rhetorically.

"Hehe...of course, but that isn't what I was talking about, you know Deidara and Hidan are out for your brother's blood, what are you going to do about it?" asked Kisame, his eyes dancing in amusement and anticipation.

"Nothing..." stated Itachi dispassionately.

"Nothing...?" asked Kisame, digging up for a more detailed explanation.

"Don't make me repeat myself Kisame, as I said before, If Sasuke is unable to defeat opponents that are weaker than me, than he is unworthy of our rivalry, I would then have to find someone else to test my abilities against." Stated Itachi indifferently.

"Heh, I guess that makes sense." Agreed Kisame, choosing to remain silent from then on.

Despite his outward stone cold and uncaring mannerisms, the same could not be said about his state of mind, this was far too troublesome a situation for Itachi to take lightly.

"My foolish little brother, what have you gotten yourself into? How am I to protect you like this? I wonder how Kaa chan, Kushina sama, and Sensei will handle these disturbing news? Will Naruko chan and her family want revenge? And should that happen, can I really blame them? But most importantly, who will I protect if it came to that?" Thought the Uchiha Clan Slayer.

 **FLASHBACK NO JUTSU**

"No no no! This can't be happening, this isn't happening, no no no!" screamed Mikoto hysterically with the bloody head of her dead husband, Uchiha Fugaku cradled on her lap. She is a unique beauty who has long black hair with black eyes. She is wearing a dark purple blouse with a red-plum skirt and a light yellow apron over it, though now dyed red with her husband's blood.

"Sochi kun, why...why are you doing this to your own family! Was I really that horrible of a mother to you, why!" wailed the ravern haired beauty in anguish and heartache, staring through her blood red sharingan eyes in disbelief.

"Why? That should be the least of your worries, when I am done with you, I am going to dispose of your little Sasuke chan, and then, the Uchiha Clan will be no more." Stated Itachi in a voice colder than the mountains of snow country.

"No please! Please anything but my sochi kun! I don't know why you're doing this, what has happened to you, but please, if you ever loved me as your kaa chan, if you ever loved sasuke chan as your brother, please spare him! Please...all I ever wanted was to raise the two of you to the best of my abilities, please, you may do as you want with me, but please take care of your brother, take care of each other, this is all a mother can wish for, Itachi kun, please..." asked Mikoto in resignation, swallowing her pride to beg for her beloved son's life, to protect her child...from her child.

"You disgust me!" said Itachi, it was said with such an even tone but the undertone was loaded with sincere loathe and disgust.

"W-what!" asked Mikoto wide eyed.

"I used to respect you, I used to look up to you when I starting my education as a shinobi, I wanted to be just like you, but now...look at you, look how far you have fallen." Stated Itachi emotionlessly.

"W-what do you mean sochi? I-I don't understand?" asked Mikoto with a confused and tearful expression.

"It is just as I said, you disgust me, your clansmen have been slaughtered, your husband, tou san would have died anyway, but he might have had a chance had you not gotten in his way, had you instead supported him as any wife should, instead all you were was a burden to him, what happened to you, you used to be one of the most promising kunoichi in this village, yet here you are snivelling on the ground and begging for your son to be spared instead of fighting for his safety, instead of fighting to protect him, you are taking the easy way out, practically begging me to kill you and leaving him alone in this world. You've lost your edge, you've let yourself go over the peaceful years, when you get to the afterlife, remember this, your family died because they had a weak wife, and a weak mother." Said Itachi, unsheathing his tanto from his back.

Meanwhile everything started to happen in slow motion for Mikoto, she couldn't believe it, her son was right, she was weak and pathetic, her husband took the blow that was meant for her, everyone died because of her. She was the matriah of the Uchiha Clan for kami's sake, she had been supposed to lead by example, everyone looked up to her for guidance, direction, and inspiration, she was the measuring yardstick for the clan and because she was weak, so was the rest of the clan, this was all her fault, her clan, her husband, and now her sasuke chan would die because of her, the guilt, shame, and regret was too much, it was consuming her.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" screamed Mikoto, holding her right eye in pain, feeling a strong acid like burning sensation in her right eye, which ended just as she thought it would never end.

'So it is happening, finally.' Thought Itachi with a small, almost invisible smile on his face, his sharingan spinning wildly in anticipation.

"You're right, thank you sochi, for showing me the errors of my ways, but now I will have to kill my heart and eliminate you, to preserve the honour of my clan, to protect myself, but most importantly, to protect Sasuke chan." said Mikoto while rising onto her feet, adopting a serious and emotionless demeanor as opposed to her previously hysterical one, staring intently with her left, three tamoe sharingan spinning wildly while her right sharingan eye adopted the design of a three pronged shuriken.

Finally, someone to test my abilities, Kaa chan, I shall defeat you here and take your eye for myself, so that I my become complete, you know right, those eyes, will become my knew eyes once I have defeated you, hehehe ahahahahaha!" laughed Itachi hysterically.

'Sochi, I always thought that I would cherish the day that you showed people a bit more of your emotions, how wrong I was, this is not quite what I imagined it would be like.' Though Mikoto, a lone tear falling from her right eye.

"Now Kaa chan, there is no better time than now, let us fight to the death, become the ultimate test for my abilities." Said Itachi charging his kaa chan with his tanto in hand.

Mikoto, with lightning fast reflexes unsheathed her husband's katana and charged at her son with equal vigour, aiming for his vital organs.

SQUELCH!

Was the sound as Itachi pierced his mother's heart, having ducked below her amateurish horizontal slash.

"Gwah...urgh!" screamed Mikoto in pain, gurgling blood up her throat.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"That...was very anticlimactic." Stated Itachi apethetically, trying to conceal his disappointment.

"Gwah!" grunted Itachi, spitting out globes of blood from his mouth. Wondering what happened, Itachi looked down only to see a long katana protruding from his chest.

"Shatter: Kyoka Suigetsu!" whispered Mikoto in Itachi's ear.

Cr...Cr...Crack!

Was the sound as the Mikoto he had stabbed shattered into minuscule pieces, along with the rest of the world surrounding Itachi, showing that he had in actual fact stabbed on thin air, with his mother piercing him with a Katana from behind.

"Kyoka...cough... Suigetsu?" asked Itachi between coughing fits, turning his head sideways to look at his mother.

"Hai, this is the ultimate genjutsu of my mangyeko sharingan, with this power, I can manipulate all of your senses to make you see, hear, smell, taste and even feel whatever I want you to, you were destined to lose the second you made eye contact with me, this is my Absolute Hypnosis. Its over sochi kun, rest in peace." Said Mikoto before ripping her katana across her son's torso, only for him to scatter into a numerous number of crows.

'What is this! A genjutsu, but when...?" thought Mikoto.

"Behind you, Kaa chan." Said Itachi, aiming a decapitating slash on his mother with his tanto, only for his mother to once again shatter into a million pieces.

"That was my line." Said Mikoto from Itachi's right side, decapitating her son in the process, her son who had instead tried to block an identical attack from a mirage she had created to appear on his left, at least that is what would have happened had he not managed to dodge in the last second, earning a deep gash on his torso for his trouble but escaping certain death nonetheless.

"How!" asked Mikoto, enraged that Itachi had dodged her attack despite her absolute hypnosis, also taking note that he now also had a shuriken shaped sharingan, staring at it with her own identical eye, blood flowing down her right cheek from her eye, a sign of the over excursion of her abilities.

"Amateresu!" said Itachi, ignoring her question completely, choosing rather to send his black, unquenchable flames after her.

'Oh no! No no no, I didn't get the chance to activate kyoka suigetsu, I won't be able to dodge in time!' thought Mikoto frantically.

'No! I will not die here, I need to save Sasuke chan!' though Mikoto with a great amount of resolve, feeling the familiar sensation on her left eye, a sensation she had felt when she activated her right mangyeko sharingan. That was also the last thought she had before getting sucked into a portal, allowing the ameteresu to pass by her previous location as she appeared 20 metres behind her son through another portal, the ultimate fire technique hitting the building that was previously situated behind her.

Itachi, sensing the excessive chakra usage, quickly turns around to face his mother, wary of any surprise attacks she might launch with her new powers.

"You were able to dodge my attack when I attempted to decapitate you, in fact, you were even able to fool me with your crow clone even earlier than that, despite being caught in my absolute hypnosis, how is that possible?" asked Mikoto in between ragged breaths.

'Damnit I don't know how much more of this I can take, I'm out of shape and I'm not used to this new sharingan, I'll die from chakra exhaustion if this fight drags on for too long, I cannot even use Kyoka Suigetsu until I figure out how he was able to counter it, how was it even possible for him to do it, my jutsu is flawless, there shouldn't be any blind spots.' Thought Mikoto in frustration and a little panic.

"What is that jutsu, how did you get there, I know it wasn't that genjutsu you used, you somehow transported yourself didn't you?" asked Itachi forcefully, completely ignoring her own question.

'Did she use Madara sama's space time migration? No...that's not it, her transportation was a lot faster than Madara's jutsu, it was something else?' thought Itachi.

"Tell you what, I'll propose a trade, you tell me how you escaped my attacks even though you were under my hypnosis, and I'll tell you the name of my jutsu." Offered Mikoto hopefully.

'Urg who am I kidding, this wouldn't work even against a genin, it is obvious that I stand more to gain from this trade than he does, and even if he were to agree, he knows that there is no guarantee that I would comply after he has told me what I want to know.' Thought Mikoto dejectedly.

"An information trade, interesting, I see, very clever of you..." said Itachi.

"W-what, what do you mean clever?" asked Mikoto

"Because you have just recently discovered your power, this means that you yourself do not understand its full capabilities and limitations as you have not had the opportunity to train and practise with it, so you're using it on mostly pure instinct as it is. This is why you are unable to figure out why I was able to defeat it, and this is why you're hesitant to use it again, because you're afraid that your own jutsu might be used against you. So what do you do, you propose a trade, sometimes, the name of a jutsu can tell you a great deal about what it actually does, and from that, you can come to certain conclusions about how it is executed and its capabilities and limitations, You're willing to give away information about an even more unfamiliar jutsu to you, that expends almost twice as much chakra as your other jutsu, so that you can regain your advantage with the more familiar jutsu to you, Kyoka suigetsu, which is also less chakra extensive and easier to use, is that right, Kaa chan?" asked Itachi in an emotionless, but almost cocky manner.

"So you figured it out, big deal, what is your decision?" asked Mikoto heatedly, embarrassed that the little runt had seen through her plan, despite having expected it to happen anyway.

"Hmm...this won't change the outcome of the battle, so I might as well tell you, I replaced myself with a crow clone the second I saw your new sharingan as a precaution, I didn't want to be caught by surprise by your new abilities, this is why you were fooled by my crow clone when you decided to attack, though if I am not mistaken, you had already captured me in your jutsu the second I laid eyes on you. Nevertheless, I figured out the secrete to your jutsu after you told my clone a little about it, thinking that you had killed me..." said Itachi, pausing to give Mikoto a chance to digest the information.

"Damnit, I only told him because I thought it was over, I should have known better!" thought Mikoto, chasticing herself for her amateurish mistake.

"You said that you were able to manipulate all of a person's senses, but that was a lie, your jutsu does not give you the abilities to manipulate a person's senses, but the ability to manipulate a person's sense organs instead." Said Itachi, ironically taking the persona of a father scolding his daughter.

"What! Is that not the same thing?" asked Mikoto with incredulity.

"Not quite, I know this because despite your absolute hypnosis, I was still able to sense your chakra normally, I used the shinobi's ability to sense chakra to determine your true location, you see, there is no specific sense organ found in the human anatomy that allows a person to sense chakra, people generally use different methods to do it. This is why I was able to conclude that you were not directly manipulating what I should sense, but you were manipulating the reactions of my sense organs, and this is how I was able to avoid a critical injury." Stated Itachi aphethitically.

"But I was still able to injure you...oh...I see, even if you can sense my true location, you can't completely ignore your other senses, if you feel like someone is standing behind you, or if you hear the swishing sound of a sword about to decapitate you, you cannot help but to react because that is what you have been trained to do your whole life, that is why you initially went after the false image and only later reacted to my true presence, despite already knowing where the real me was through your chakra sensing abilities." Said Mikoto in contemplation.

"What was that jutsu you used to transport yourself." Demanded Itachi.

"Space Gliding Goddess!" said Mikoto with a smirk on her face before disappearing into a portal once again, quickly appearing in front of her son and piercing her son through his back, her son who had turned around anticipating an attack from his blind spot, having sense a portal opening behind him.

"This is it, sochi kun." Said Mikoto with tears in her eyes.

"Gwuh...You got me, I see, you can somehow open more than one portal at a time, you used this ability, to open a portal in my blind spot, naturally, I would turn to face the other way, expecting you to come out of said portal, but instead you had planned to open another in front of me, attacking me from the side I had already been facing, very good Kaa chan, but what are you going to do now that you're out of chakra?" asked Itachi casually, as if there wasn't a sword stabbed through his lower back, something that sent all kinds of warning bells to mikoto's instincts, and rightly so because the next thing she knew was her son once again turning into crows.

"Impossible, I was watching you the whole time, when did you use a clone!" asked Mikoto helplessly, the strain of using so many high level jutsu too much for her to even sustain her normal sharingan anymore, never mind her ultimate sharingan.

"It is not a clone, but a genjutsu." Said Itachi as the world shimmered around her, revealing her healthy, traitorous son standing right in front of her, though she was now too weak to do anything about it, her eyes having turned back to their usual black colour.

"This is what I have been waiting for, let me show you my ultimate genjutsu, Tsukiyomi!" said Itachi.

The last thing Mikoto remembered was standing in front of her son in her weakened state only to find herself in a strange world, tied to a cross with her son staring at her with what she concluded were evil eyes.

"This is Tsukiyomi, in this world I control the time and space, I am god, you will now have the pleasure of watching me butcher your husband over and over again for 72 hours starting...now...71 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds, 72 hours 59 minutes and 58 seconds..."

"Gwaaaah! Please stop, please...please stop this, please just kill me, please just do it already, I don't want to see this.!" Screamed Mikoto in pain and sorrow.

'Damnit, why isn't it working, maybe I should try something different...' thought Itachi.

"Now, you will see what I am going to do to your son...34 hours 40 hours and 43 seconds..."

"Nooooooooo! Sasuke chan, I won't let you do this!" thought Mikoto, lifting her head up to stare at her son in fury and disgust, unconsciously activating both her mangyeko eyes.

"Let...me GO!" screamed Mikoto, sending tremors all around and shattering parts of the Tsukiyomi world.

'This is it.' Thought Itachi, trying valiantly to prevent her from breaking his jutsu.

"Gwah!" screamed Itachi as he was pushed a few metres away from his Kaa chan, his left eye bleeding profusely, finding himself back into the real world, looking through his right eye at his Kaa chan, who is now surrounded by a skeletal looking apparition.

'She's activating sasuno'o, that's good, time to end this.' Thought Itachi warily only for Mikoto to collapse on the floor, the apparition disappearing from around her.

2 minutes later...

"Kaa chan...Kaa chan wake up!" whispered Itachi harshly, slapping Mikoto acrass the face lightly.

"Mmmm...hmmmm..."

"Kaa chan I killed Sasuke!" said Itachi.

"What!" screamed Mikoto, opening her eyes wide only to find her head resting comfortably on her homicidal son's lap.

"Uh...Ahhhh!" screamed Mikoto, trying and failing to jump away from the source of her nightmares.

"Shhhh...Kaa chan, try to relax, there's something important I need to tell you, but I need you to remain calm and listen carefully, we do not have a lot of time." Explain Itachi in a polite manner in order not to sound like a homicidal maniac, though his politeness only freaked her out even more, only her shinobi training allowing her to suppress her instinct to scream for help.

"Kaa chan, I never intended nor will I kill Sasuke, so you do not have to worry about anything. I only killed off the clan because they were planning a coupe against the Hokage and the village, I was assigned the mission to eliminate the threat to the village, which unfortunately was our clan." Explained Itachi, watching the varying emotions displayed on her face, shock, disbelief, understanding, and then contemplation.

"Kaa chan look at me!" said Itachi forcefully.

"I can't bring myself to kill you, or Sasuke, I –I couldn't allow you to die, that is why I volunteered to fulfil this mission myself, in order to protect you. But to do that, I had to make you strong, I had to pretend that I wanted to kill you and Sasuke, and to make you feel guilty, like it was your fault that everything happened, so that you could activate your mangyeko sharingan, I didn't mean what I said, I-I'm sorry, Kaa chan." Said Itachi with tears freely flowing down his cheeks.

"Sochi kun, its ok...I'm a little confused, and I have many questions, but I think I understand a bit...I...I think I can forgive you with time, you're my son after all, so please...do not cry, be a strong boy for Kaa chan!" said Mikoto, lifting her hand up to brush the tears away from her son's face.

"A-arigatou Kaa chan, but...you need to go..." said Itachi, standing on his feet after placing his mother gently on the ground.

"I'm going to call for help, Sensei's going to take you to a safe place." Said Itachi, pulling out a three pronged kunai from his weapons pouch and throwing it hard towards the ground...

"Finally, my part is done, now it is time to play your part Minato sensei!" said Itachi, throwing the kunai hard towards the floor, only for the immediate vicinity of the kunai to be illuminated by a yellow flash...


	3. Chapter 3

_**The puppeteer of Life**_

 **Chapter 3**

The bright yellow light disappeared shortly to reveal, standing in front of the two Uchihas, a fairly tall, fare skinned, and handsome man with bright blue eyes and spiky blonde hair with jaw length bangs framing either side of his face. His outfit consists of a standard Konoha ninja uniform with two bands each on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket and a konoha forehead protector. Over his outfit is a long, short sleeved white coat decorated by flame-like motifs on the lower edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" down the back and closed on the front by a thin orange rope.

"It has been a long time, Mikoto chan." Said the man nonchalantly, greeting Mikoto with a small wave.

Mikoto stared at the man that appeared out of nowhere in a bright flash of yellow with a shocked and horrified expression on her face. If she wasn't so exhausted she would have screamed her lungs hoarse in fear, how was this possible, she didn't know that ghosts really existed, weren't they supposed to be just myths, or was this some kind of cruel illusion that her son was using on her? Was he lying when he said that he wanted to protect her? That was the only logical explanation as far as she was concerned, there was no way that this was really the Yondaime Hokage.

"You shouldn't scare her like that Minato sensei, she has been through a lot recently. " explained Itachi in his usual emotionless monotone.

"I see, so it actually came to you having to do this, why the hell did Hiruzen let things degenerate this far?" asked Minato to himself, hands clenched in anger.

"We are all responsible for our own actions, at least for the most part, I don't blame Sandaime sama or the village for this tragedy, the clan chose their own actions and I chose mine, and so did the village hierarchy, we are all responsible for what happened here today." Said Itachi.

'Hiruzen, did my plans fail or did you completely ignore the instructions I left with Kushina with regards to dealings with the Uchiha clan and Uchiha Madara? Did it really have to come to this, that a thirteen year old kid would be required to carry this kind of burden?' thought Minato with a small frown on his face.

"Itachi, you're wrong, this is all my fault, if I had stayed than..."

"I know sensei..." said Itachi, cutting of the blonde former kage mid sentence.

"The relations between the clan and the village had improved a great deal during your short reign as the Hokage, and had you stayed, the village would have been aware of Madara's existence and thus, removing suspicion on the clan about the nine tails attack. The clan would have not been isolated and seen as a threat, and maybe they might have not felt cornered and forced to resort to a revolt against the village, I understand how and why you feel this way sensei, but..." trailed of the young Uchiha.

"Itachi..."

"Sensei, I don't blame you for what happened, I would have done the same in your shoes after what happened that day, Madara had the advantage over you because of his anonymity and timing, you had too many things to do, you had to protect Naruto kun and Naruko chan, while protecting Kushina sama as well as fighting the nine tails to protect the village. But that was not all, you still had to fight Madara and figure out his identity, devise a plan to deal with the fox, and make future plans at the same time. A difficult task that only you could have achieved, Madara's anonymity gave him an overwhelming advantage in that situation, you cannot plan for something if you do not even know of its existence, sensei, it is important to remember our reasons for doing what we've done and what we are going to be doing..." trailed off the young prodigy.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"To abandon your country and village is the same as abandoning your child, this was one of the first lessons you taught me, sensei. Which is better, to give your family a decade of happiness followed by a lifetime of misery and even death, or to sacrifice and live a decade of pain followed by a lifetime of happiness. I know you miss Naruto kun, and I know he and the village have suffered since your death, but we have to endure and persevere, you're the only one who can do it sensei, you can't come back yet and you can't take Naruto kun either, if you did, than Madara would probably speed things up and send the whole Akatsuki after you, he would never stop until he found Naruto, and by association, found you. It is best that Naruto kun stayed in the village for now, we need to keep your existence a secrete for as long as possible, the unpredictability of your existence will serve as a major trump card in this coming storm. This is the only step we have ahead of him." Explained Itachi

Minato sighed in bewilderment, trust his student to read his thoughts like an open book, really, was he that transparent or did his student simply know him that well? To top it off, even though he knew that Itachi was right, it didn't make him feel any better than he already felt, because despite what Itachi said about ten years of sacrifice and pain in exchange for a lifetime of happiness, he couldn't help but feel that things would not work out the way that they planned.

It was in fact not just a baseless feeling either, there were already signs that things would not go as perfectly as his prized student seemed to think they would. For one, Minato knew that Itachi's theory that the village would have stopped suspecting the Uchiha clan for the kyubi attack had they known about Madara was flawed, because he knew for a fact that Kushina had told the sandaime hokage about Madara before she left the village with Naruko. The fact that the village still blamed the clan for the attack meant one of two things, one, Hiruzen kept the information to himself and didn't tell the elders and the shinobi council, which was essentially consisting of the shinobi clan heads, the A.N.B.U Commander, and the Jonin Commander. Or two, he did tell the elders but not the shinobi council and they still suspected the clan regardless, maybe suspecting that the Uchiha clan already knew of Madara's existence and was in league with him. That would make more sense, Hiruzen himself never trusted the Uchiha clan, to have stayed in command of the village for as long as he did, decades, and not have fixed things in all that time meant only one thing to Minato, Hiruzen didn't try to fix things because he was happy with things as they were, even the Shodaime and Nidaime didn't trust the clan after madara attacked the shodaime all those years ago, even though the Uchiha had renounced madara's membership in the clan in favour of peace, in other words, betraying their leader in favour of the village and Senju Hashirama.

Minato didn't like to label himself as a prodigy or genius, but he was no fool, he knew exactly why Tobirama sama had given the Uchiha clan the honour of being the village's police force, it wasn't to show his respect or acknowledgement of the Uchiha's strength and service for the village as he made people believe, to even imply that to be the reason was an insult itself to not just the clan's strength, but their intelligence too if he expected them not to see his intentions, it was obvious that this was a ploy to keep an eye on the clan, and to suppress their potential. To understand Tobirama's plan, one needed to consult the nature of the role of a police officer and the science behind the strength of a shinobi, and even more specifically, the strength of an Uchiha.

For an example, to be a police officer of say, wave country, one is required to remain in wave country full time, as in live there and work on cases directly involved with the crimes taking place in wave country. In other words, you would be unlikely to leave wave country for any duration of time unless you were on vacation or on rare occasions, were required to collaborate with another country on an international or intercontinental crime. This meant that a police officer was for the most part, grounded to their place of occupation. Based on this information, it had not been hard for Minato to come to the conclusion that Tobirama had given the Uchiha clan this role to play in order to keep them inside of the village so that he can keep an eye on them, because as members of the police force, they couldn't leave the village to go on missions because their services were required inside the village.

To analyse the situation scientifically, it was important to take note of the shinobi biology. One example is the nature of chakra, which has a physical and spiritual component. A shinobi develops his physical chakra through physical training and his spiritual chakra through experience, which is attained through the many life and death battles that a shinobi has survived during missions or otherwise during war. But you couldn't properly develop this component of your chakra if you were stuck in the village handling civillian crime cases could you? There was nothing life threatening about that nor was there any chance of encountering any strong opponents because the A.N.B.U were there to handle the ninja related cases, and since the Uchiha's were required to join the police force when they became chuunin, it was incredibly difficult for them to attain the strength to match the strength of the legendary shinobi that Konoha has continuously produced over the years. Before Shisui, there hadn't been any kage level Uchiha shinobi produced in Konoha since Uchiha Madara, and even then, it had been only because of Shisui's involvement with Danzo and his R.O.O.T program that Shisui had been able to develop his skills with relative freedom to participate in difficult missions outside of the village. Minato may have allowed Danzo to train Shisui, but he had made it very clear that he would personaly eliminate Danzo if he placed one of his seals on Shisui's toungue. And then there was Itachi, whom Minato had secretly trained himself and Madara, ironically had helped too, teaching him all the secretes of the Mangyeko Sharingan.

Nonetheless, the situation contained further oppressive implications for a member of the Uchiha clan, if a person was unable to activate their sharingan before joining the police force at chuunin level, he or she would be faced with a situation where they could possibly never activate their bloodline limit. Why is that so?

It is because in order to activate his or her sharingan, a person needs to be faced with the real possibility of dying in a battle against a stronger and preferably, faster opponent. This requirement had made it almost impossible for a person to activate their doujutsu before they had to join the police force because of the nature of the missions that a genin participated in, for the most part d rank missions, which are nothing but ordinary chores that even a civilian could complete. An experienced genin could take on c rank missions, but that was still not dangerous or life threatening for a trained shinobi, as the only real danger a person could face was a bandit, which was for the most part, just a civilian with a mediocre weapon.

This caused a great deal of distress for the Uchihas, as the best chance to activate their prized bloodline limit became the chuunin examinations, but even then, one was not guaranteed to activate it during the tournament and even if they did, they would only have one or two tamoe by the end of the tournament, in which case if they passed the exam, which suspiciously, they always did get passed the first time around, they would be stuck with an immature sharingan, unable to activate all tamoe because of the lack of real battle experience. This served to put the Uchiha clan in an awkward situation, as over the years, less and less members of the co-founding clan were activating their bloodline limits and those that did, were unable to fully activate or master their eyes and as an ultimate result, weakening the clan a great deal over the years.

And then there was the mangyeko sharingan, the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage feared the Mangyeko Sharingan a great deal after Uchiha Madara's betrayal, Hashirama sama had been pushed to his limits for the first time in his life and almost lost the battle against the rebel Uchiha, what made them even more weary of the Uchiha's power, was the ability to control not just any bijuu, but the nine tailed demon fox itself. Tobirama knew that his brother, despite his strength, was not immortal, there would come a time that he would die, and when that time came, there would be no one else from the Senju clan that could control the fox, if the Uchiha clan were to raise another rebel Mangyeko user, than it could bring an end to the Senju clan if he or she got their hands on the fox and the Uchiha would seize power over the village, so he devised this elaborate plan that would prevent anyone from the clan from leaving the village, make it easy to keep an eye on the clan, weaken the clan and if possible, deny them access to their bloodline limit.

But it did not end there, there was still a chance that they could gain a mature sharingan despite his efforts, if so, then the plan would at the very least ensure that they did not gain access to the Mangyeko Sharingan, if they couldn't go out on dangerous missions, then they wouldn't lose any precious loved ones.

Some might wonder why the Nidaime Hokage would want to protect the loved ones of the very people whose strength he was trying to suppress. In order to understand this one needed to understand the scientific and biological traits of a human and an Uchiha human. For every emotion that a person feels, there is almost, if not always a subsequent physical response or reaction from the person's body. If you are sad or hurt, salty liquid flows out of your eyes in the form of tears. If you are angry or excited, your blood pressure rises, your heart beats faster, and your temperature rises amongst other things. As for an Uchiha, things can get a little bit more dangerous, if an Uchiha kills one of their loved ones, like any human being, they are bound to feel an overwhelming amount of sadness, sorrow, grief and guilt. These emotions at this level of intensity can produce a strong physical reaction to an Uchiha, particularly within the eyes of the select person, hence, the activation of the mangyeko sharingan.

But, did you really have to kill your loved ones yourself to feel these emotions, and subsequently, to activate an ultimate sharingan. What if you made a mistake during a mission and it resulted in the death of a loved one, would you not feel all these emotions, sadness, sorrow, grief, and most importantly, guilt?

It was certainly plausible, at least to the Nidaime Hokage and Minato had actually witnessed absolute proof of this when Shisui committed suicide in front of itachi, who as a result, activated his Mangyeko Sharingan because of the guilt he felt for not being able to protect his friend. Nonetheless the Nidaime Hokage's plan succeeded for the most part, and Sarutobi Hiruzen followed in his sensei's footsteps blindly, or maybe not so blindly, Minato had yet to fully comprehend the workings of the old man's mind but he was getting closer and closer to figuring him out as the years went by.

Minato was indeed a once in a life time genius, despite having never met the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, he had been able to figure them out even before he became Hokage, that is why he knew that Itachi was wrong by assuming that knowledge of Madara's existence would have made things better, because the Uchiha clan had been oppressed even before the nine tails attack eight years ago, and he had also been foolish when he thought that having Kushina pass on the message to the sandaime Hokage would have bought the clan time until he returned, the only way to have prevented this was if he had stayed and remained as Hokage of Konohagakure no saito.

Anyway the point is that Minato was aware that many of his and his student's plans were already failing, he failed to absolve the Uchiha clan of their oppression, ultimately resulting in their plans for a revolt and their ultimate demise, he failed to protect his prized student from the burden of killing his clan, he failed to protect Shisui, and failed his son the most. His plans for Tsunade and Jiraya to take care of Naruto Kun until his return had failed dismally, what made matters worse was that he knew about his son's circumstances but couldn't do anything about it, he couldn't even begin to explain something like this to Kushi chan, he didn't know how she would react, it had been hard enough to convince her to leave Naruto kun with her own cousin, if she knew that Tsunade wasn't raising him and was in fact not telling the whole truth in her letters, than things could get bad really fast. He was afraid that Kushina would try to forcefully take Naruto away from the village, something that Konoha, or the Sandaime would never allow, the situation could escalate and get out of control and could ultimately result in her death. But he would never allow that though, he would have to reveal himself and help her fend off Konoha, and then what? Become a missing nin? A Kage becoming a missing ninja? And what's more is that Madara, Akatsuki, Iwa, Kumo, and Konoha would be after him and his family, there was no way even he would be able to raise a family under those conditions.

So far none of his plans had turned out the way that he had planned and if he had learned anything from this, it was that humans are unpredictable and sometimes unreliable, there was no guarantee that things were going to turn out the way the planned them to be, that was why he had his doubts about their actions. But he would have to suppress those doubts and move forward because Itachi now needed him more than ever, konoha, the shinobi world, Mikoto, Sasuke, Kushina, Naruko and his son's safety rested upon their shoulders and they were not going to fail no matter what.

"You're right Itachi, I think I needed to hear that, Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" said Minato with his hands in a cross seal, creating four doppelgangers of himself.

"You know what you have to do, spread out!" ordered the blonde haired former Kage, watching his clones disappear with a body flicker.

"What are you doing sensei?" asked Itachi inquisitively.

"I'm going to set up one of my own barriers, it serves as both a chakra concealing and a space locking barrier, just in case." Explained Minato

"Space-locking? You want to prevent him from returning and discovering you, but, you're the only one capable of setting up that kind of barrier, he'll recognise it as yours and he'll realise you're alive, surely you realise that sensei? Asked Itachi.

"This is not what you think it is Itachi, the barrier is not made to stop him from discovering me, it is made to stop him from escaping me, escaping us, if he comes back, the only way for him to escape will be to defeat the both of us." Lectured Minato.

'A space time barrier that is locked only from the inside, allowing easy entrance through space time jutsu but impossible to leave using the same method, not only that but the same barrier is able to function as a chakra concealing cloak, preventing people from sensing the enivitable usage of high level jutsu and as a result, no one to interfere and get caught in the battle, you never seize to amaze me, sensei, in a way, I can't help but wish that Madara sama actually does return, we could end this now and forever if he did.'

"I see, sensei, I need you to take mother with you, but I'm going to need a body to replace her, were you able to acquire an appropriate jutsu?" asked the 13 year old prodigy.

"No, I already had a jutsu for that, the same one I used to fake my own death." Explained Minato.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Sensei, it took you seven years to regain your strength after you used that jutsu..."

"The circumstances are different this time around Itachi, unlike me, your mother will not have half of her soul devoured by the shinigami..."

"What do you mean devoured by the shinigami! Itachi kun what is this man talking about, and why does he look like Minato kun!" screeched Mikoto frantically, staring at her son with fear, hope, and confusion, having finally recovered from her silent shock.

"Kaa chan, Minato sensei will take care of you and answer all of your questions, now...SLEEP..." said Itachi while looking at Mikoto straight the eyes, the tamoe in his eyes spinning rapidly around the pupil.

"A ...genjutsu...no please, I have to...see...if sasuke chan...is...safe...first..." trailed off Mikoto, trying to resist the inevitable genjutsu enforced sleep but in the end succumbing to the jutsu.

Minato, realising what Itachi had done quickly places a seal on Mikoto's wrist before going through a long series of hand seals.

"Forced Jutsu Activation." Said Minato at the end of the chain of handseals, causing the seal on Mikoto's wrist to glow bright blue for a few seconds.

"The seal I placed on her is now absorbing a small portion of her chakra to use as a base for the justu that I'm going to use." explained Minato for Itachi's benefit.

"Base for a jutsu?"asked Itachi with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hai, everybody has their own unique chakra frequency, or signal, but in spite of how different our chakra is, it is still human chakra regardless. This seal stores the chakra of the target, but the seal is linked to me, whatever jutsu I use while maintaining this link, the chakra signal will be converted by the seal to match that of the chakra that was absorbed and stored in the seal, and then the jutsu will be manifested with the chakra matching that of Mikoto's chakra signature, even though I am the one using the justu, and even though it is actually my chakra that is being expanded. Basically, it is a chakra converting seal. And don't worry about the jutsu deactivating, only I can deactivate it."explained Minato.

"I-I see."was all the Uchiha had to say, too shocked by the enginuity of such a jutsu to say anything more.

"Now Itachi, I'm going to need a quarter of a litre of your mother's blood to create the blood clone, and then I'm going to need you to kill the clone immediately, I've never tried this with a clone before, since the clone has an independent mind, we cannot be sure if it will follow mine or Mikoto chan's instructions." Explained Minato.

Itachi knew that his sensei was right, he had been wondering the same thing himself, If her blood and her chakra was used to make the clone, than why would it follow Minato sensei's instructions? Even if he was the only one who could deactivate the clone jutsu, that did not necessarily mean that the clone was obliged to follow his instructions. Itachi, realising that they were pressed for time, decided to speed things up, Sasuke was due to arrive soon and his time limit for the completion of the mission would come to an end soon, he would need to get out of here as soon as possible, to become a missing ninja and to join the Akatsuki as a spy for his sensei, for the sake of his village, and for the sake of his family and the ninja world.

"So, this is good bye, for now." Said Itachi, trying to conceal his emotions about being separated for such a long time from his kaa chan and pseudo Tou san, and about what he was about to do to his own little brother.

Everything went according to plan so far, he gained permission from the sandaime to spare his brother, he massacred the clan, manipulated his kaa chan into activating her ultimate sharingan, faked her death, organised for her to be taken care of by the person he trusts the most, he killed the blood clone and his kaa chan would be able to get the part of her soul trapped in the clone back when her fake body is cremated as promised by the sandaime upon his request that she not be buried but cremated, which would prompt Minato sensei to deactivate the jutsu once the clone died. Not even a hyuga would be able to tell that the body was a fake, when the blood clone dies, the chakra used to maintain the jutsu manifests itself as the chakra residue that is found in the chakra coils of all corpses, a hyuga would not find this to be suspicious because he or she would have expected to see this chakra residue within the chakra coils of the corpse. This was in effect, the ultimate fake corpse jutsu. Now all he had to do was to take care of his brother and be gone.

"Itachi, how is he, how's my son doing lately, have things gotten any better?" asked Minato, this was the first thing that he wanted to know, but he had saved it for last because of the situation, but now he was at his limit.

Itachi only looked down at that, this was the question that he was also dreading to answer. It did not matter how much his sensei told him that it was not his fault, he couldn't help it but to feel responsible for the blonde's suffering, he failed to even convince his own little brother to befriend his sensei's son. It was no secret that the blonde had absolutely no friends inside the village or anywhere for that matter.

He and his mother both tried to help the blonde though whenever they could. Actually, Mikoto had attempted on many occasions to adopt the blonde bundle of energy into the family as her third son. Not only would she be able to provide him with everything he needed, but he would also have the protection of a powerful clan behind him and receive the proper training he deserved. Even Fugaku had supported the idea and even encouraged Mikoto not to give up until she succeeded with her attempts, though Itachi had suspected that he might have had a different motive than his Kaa chan did.

Nevertheless none of her attempts to adopt little Naruto kun were even considered by the sandaime hokage, in fact, her efforts had only served to further isolate the clan from the rest of the village because the sandaime Hokage and his advisers only saw this as further proof that the Uchiha clan were responsible for the kyubi attack and were now trying to retrieve the kyubi by adopting its jinchuuriki into the clan.

"I'm sorry sensei, but not much has changed. Not many people are willing to be associated with him and those that do are kept at a distance from him by Sandaime sama. Ironically, it is because not many are willing to be associated with him that the ones that are end up visiting Ibiki. Sandaime sama believes that those that are willing to be associated with him have ulterior motives and so refuses them access to Naruto kun, further isolating him from the village. I tried to take him in as an apprentice six months ago but I was refused, Hokage sama insisted that Jiraiya sama would come back at any moment and take him in as a student. Up until now I've been protecting him from a distance, but there is only so much I can do while remaining anonymous and without alerting his A.N.B.U guards and sometimes being forced to leave the village for weaks on missions. I'm sorry sensei." Apologised the Uchiha genius.

"I see." Said Minato, looking at the ground in sadness.

"What about Sasuke, is he also to come with us?" asked Minato.

"No, Sasuke will remain here in konoha." Said Itachi with determination in his eyes, eyes that showed that nothing short of devine intervention would succeed in changing his mind.

"Itachi, are you sure about this? I don't see why I couldn't take Sasuke kun with us, we could easily make another fake corpse for him." Asked Minato, carrying Mikoto in his arms bridal style with concern in his eyes, not even trying to hide his concern for his apprentice and surrogate son.

"No sensei, Sasuke can never be allowed to find out about the truth of what happened here today, the Uchiha clan is a noble, proud, and loyal clan of the great village of Konoha, I need Sasuke to maintain this belief and become konoha's greatest protector, and to do that for him, I need to give him a dream, an important goal in his life, to become strong enough to defeat the one who betrayed and murdered his clan, to rebuild the Uchiha clan of Konoha and to become so strong that there will never be another massacre for as long as he is alive and thereafter, this is the only way I can do this for him, this bond of hatred between us will be his salvation in the end, and he'll become one of the greatest heroes of konoha for defeating one of the village's worst criminals." Said Itachi with convinction.

'Itachi, there is nothing I can do to change your mind about this is there? Sigh...you're not the one that is going to have to explain this to Mikoto, I'm the one that's going to have to deal with her righteous fury.' Thought Minato fearfully.

"I see, in that case, let me be on my way, good luck Itachi." Said Minato.

"Minato sensei!" said Itachi hastily, stopping the blonde legend from vanishing with his Kaa chan.

"Yes, Itachi, what is it?" asked Minato with concern, it was not like his student to hesitate, no matter what the circumstances, Itachi was the epitome of emotional control and professionalism. The fact that he was delaying his departure sent warning bells ringing into his ears, perhaps this whole ordeal was too much for him to deal with alone, he was only thirteen years old after all.

"Sensei, you do realise what is going to happen when Okaa chan and Kushina sama meet don't you, how do you plan do deal with it?" asked Itachi.

"Huh...?" was Minato's intellectual reply, it seems his student wasn't at the brink of an emotional breakdown after all.

Itachi sighed at his sensei's cluelessness. For all his intelligence and perceptiveness, his sensei was sometimes completely clueless when it came to predicting the emotional reactions of the people closest to him.

"Sensei, Kushina sama is going to find out that you lied about Naruto's status in the village hidden in the leaves, or rather, that you didn't say anything about his status, you do know that one of the first questions okaa chan is going to ask her is why she left Naruto kun alone in the village... don't you?" asked Itachi.

Minato felt like the whole world was collapsing on him when he heard that. Visions of a giant, demonic Kushina with red eyes, elongated fangs and clawed hands plucking out his limbs one by one screeming about betrayal and making him pay for hurting her sochi kun assaulted his mind. He was so frightened he almost dropped the beautiful Uchiha matriah, whom he was carrying bridal style in his arms in preparation for his departure.

"I'm going to die aren't I!"

"Probably." Said Itachi.

"Fuck!" cursed Minato.

As this was happening they did not feel the other person leaving the compound.

 **END FLASHBACK NO JUTSU**

"Get ready Itachi san, we're almost there." Said Kisame, breaking his ice cold partner from is trip through memory lane, they had been travelling for almost 6 hours now in silence, something Kisame had initially struggled to get used to, but had come to adapt to his teenage partner's silent preferences over time.

"Hmm...Kisame, I'll take care of the hunter ninja, you and Samehada just focus on finding Naruto kun's body, your under water abilities are afterall the main reason that we were chosen for this specific mission, understood?" ordered the Uchiha with an aura of authority.

"Tche... why do you always get all the fun, can't I at least chop off just a few of their limbs before you fight them?" whined Kisame childishly, though never loosing his trademark predatory grin.

"Kisame...!" warned Itachi.

"Hai hai hai, It has been a long time since the last time me and Samehada went for a swim anyway." Grumbled Kisame.

"Good." Replied Itachi.

"This is good, this will give me a chance to send one of the crows to inform sensei about the fate of his son without Kisame's notice." Thought Itachi with a bit of relief.

 **Scene change and time skip a few days later**

Naruto was walking in the forest of Oni no kuni, he had business there, visiting one of the possible future contacts of his personal spy network, when he felt the light pain which meant that the barrier that he errected around Uzushiogakure no Sato. That barrier was designed to react to Itachi's little carrier crows that he used to send updates about the Akatsuki to Yondaime Hokage Sama, he called him that because he refused to refer to him as father. Chuckling to himself he made a single handsign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

 **Scene change**

Fifteen kilometers from Uzushiogakure, appeared Naruto, in front of him was an orange colored, three tailed fox the size of an adult bulldog, he kneeled and gave the fox a big piece of meat.

"thank you kodama chan." he said while petting the fox kit on the head

"No problem Naruto sama, happy to help." answered the small fox kit, that was one of the reasons why he liked the fox clan, unlike other summons the fox clan did not mind leaving their realm for long periods of time, that allowed Naruto by using the **gyaku kuchiose no jutsu** **(reverse summoning jutsu)** alongside his barrier to form a first response technique to any missives for the 'rogue' Uchiha to his spiritual father. Leaving the kit alone, he started walking towards the ruins where his so called family was using as refuge, he was walking a bit too fast for his liking. Since even if he would rather die than admit it, he found his sister endearing, she reminded him of how had was before life made him grow up, so innocent and carefree. That also reminded him of how he discovered his family's survival.

 **Flashback start**

One year after leaving konoha we find our favorite blonde walking in river country, he wore the standard Konoha Anbu clothing, consisting of black clothing, a grey flak jacket, on the back of which was a red Uzumaki swirl, metal arm guards and gloves, ninja sandals with spikes for travelling into mountainous regions, three ninja pouches on his back-waist, he also wore a pitch black coat that reached to his knees, he was also taller than average, looking at least nine years old. He wore a straw hat (called a sakkat) and skeletal mask with red eyepieces. Both the mask, the coat and the sakkat had seals on them, the coat masked both his scent and chakra, the mask changed his voice and the sakkat made his hair look Uzamaki red. He was traveling when he felt a slight vibration in his coat pocket, reaching inside he took a book out, the book looked normal if not for a seal on the cover that was colored red and pulsating. He opened the book and read inside

' _boss, the Uchiha clan are attempting a coup d'état.'_ while Naruto did not really care about konoha, the Uchiha clan had something that was usefull for him, so he decided to go to the village.

 **Scene change**

After a week going at top speed, Naruto arrived at konoha, he saw both chunin guards and not wanting to bother with the two morons, he simply said " **genjutsu** Unknown Hero/Mister Unknown (Announ Hīrō/Misutā Announ)" now Naruto was definitely not a genjutsu specialist, but with his training he managed to learn the art, one of his own creations was **genjutsu** **Unknown Hero/Mister Unknown (Announ Hīrō/Misutā Announ),** it was a genjutsu that made people subconsciously block him from their senses and memory after meeting him. This genjutsu has many weaknesses, first was that his chakra control has to remain the whole time the genjutsu is up. Second, if one person is able to see him, everyone present will become able to. When he gets serious however, no one can find him. Also, when covering someone else, Naruto cannot use his genjutsu to camouflage himself. This was his first choice when infiltrating shinobi villages. Once he entered he booked himself a room in the golden leaf hotel. From there he waited for the night of the massacre. How did he know a massacre was about to happen, well Sarutobi was definitely going to kill all the Uchihas but a few to remake them in his image, that was how the bastard rolled.

 **Time skip**

It had been one week since, and thanks to both his empathy ability and shopping around he managed to find out that tonight was the night of massacre. So while Itachi was busy killing his clansmen, Naruto went to the Uchiha library. What few knew about was that the Uchiha clan compound was built by Hashirama Senju at the request of Madara. What no one knew about was that Madara made a request that Mito made a secrete compartiment on the wall of the library so that he could hide his katon ninjutsu knowledge for his clan so that only his blood could have it. That was what Naruto was after, you see he was a katon user, a very rare thing in the Uzumaki clan, and while Kurama was capable of teaching him in the katon area, she herself admitted that Madara was better than her in that area. So here he was sneaking into the Uchiha clan compound while their golden boy was having fun killing them, which was funny considering the fact that the Uchiha Itachi was crying on the inside. Any way he reached the seal and saw the creation, he could understand parts of it but since it was Uzumaki Fucking Mito who made it, he could not really understand everything. So how was he supposed to open the damn thing if he wasn't of Madara's bloodline, well luckily for him, Mito or as Kurama liked to call her the 'crazy, paranoid bitch' always made a fail safe in any of her works, so Naruto using a key of sorts, opened the seal and found a scroll, he opened it and saw ' _how to master fire jutsu by Uchiha Madara'_ so he took with him. As he was about to leave he saw Mikoto fighting her son, he was going to interfere since Mikoto was a friend, and dare he think it a former crush, but Itachi was not there to kill her so he waited, and saw some very impressive techniques there, when he was about to leave after Itachi defeated his mother, he saw the Uchiha pull a very distinct kunai. A kunai that could only mean...

'No, It's impossible, he is dead and sealed.' and a flash was seen, from it appeared Namikaze Minato.

' **apparently not'** said Kurama, after hearing the conversation with Itachi, Naruto realised that like him, Minato was preparing for war with the masked man, while he could respect that but that did not mean he liked it. So after seeing that, Naruto just left unseen and unheard but not before seeing a genjutsu knocked out Sasuke falling on his stomach, he waited until everyone left and then he went through some handsigns before touching Sasuke's forehead and said " **Seimei no Ki " ōkoku" ("Tree of Life - Kingdom")"** with this jutsu Naruto can plant his chakra seed inside a human body. Unlike normal plants that gain nutrients from soil and sunlight, the seeds drain human life force from humans, instantly killing them with chakra trees coming out of their mouths, or in this case something less draining and more macabre. Before the blooming process starts, Naruto must signal for the process to begin, essentially allowing him to prepare in advance for future battles or make a deadman's switch inside the Uchiha. While he did not hate the child, he couldn't allow Indra's transmigrant to roam free without any form of control. Eversince his Kaa sama told him about the transmigration system and about Indra and Asura, he decided to always keep an eye on Sasuke. Yeah he knew that that way of thinking was what caused the Uchiha massacre in the first place, but he wasn't Namikaze, he knew just what humans are capable of doing. After leaving the village he asked

 _'you do realize kurama kaa sama, that Itachi is without a doubt going to be spying on the masked man. Right?'_

' **hai sochi kun, so we are going to Uzushiogakure No Sato to set up Shop.'** answered the bijuu

' _why Uzushiogakure specifically, they could be anywhere?'_ asked Naruto

' **please, Kushina has a one track mind, she always said Uzushiogakure this Uzushiogakure that, all she think about is rebuilding Uzushiogakure no Sato. Add to that Minato is a pansy and you get that they are hiding in Uzushiogakure No Sato.** ' and he could see no problem with her logic since she knew them both. So he started going towards Uzushiogakure. When he arrived he found the same barrier that Namikaze set up in the Uchiha clan compound set up around Uzushiogakure alongside an intrusion detection barrier. Now for an amateur that dabbled into seals, he would simply break the barrier, but for Naruto a seal specialist who specialised in Kekkai ninjutsu well, he simply made a hole in the barrier, big enough to allow him to travel inside without allerting the occupants and that's how he saw Naruko the first time.

 **Flashback end**

Walking towards the ruins of Uzushiogakure he could not help but wonder what the message of Itachi was. Could it be another Akatsuki member to complete the set, could the masked man have come to light to play. He didn't know but he could wait a bit. He first wanted to see Naruko.

 **Scene change**

 _Minato Sensei_

 _Let me apologise first and foremost for breaking our rendezvous schedule, but as you may have already guessed, I have not done so without reason. Allow me to assure you that my cover is still intact and I eagerly await the time that I can complete my part of our mission, my will has not wavered, you are and will always be my mentor, my leader, and my true father and I shall not ever neglect or undermine your authority nor will I abandon our righteous path, even if it might pave our way to hell, it matters not as long as our loved ones are safe, sound, and happy, as long as we can prevent the end of our way of life, and as long as my great granduncle, Uchiha Madara is stopped, both my life and afterlife is worth the sacrifice._

 _I have regrettably yet to establish Yahiko's motives or true loyalties, or how it is that he inherited the powers of the rinnegan, I have tried to get close to him but it is too much of a risk, Konan watches over him like, for lack of a better term, a mother hen, and I have still not been able to discover the whereabouts of Nagato, I am however almost certain that he is no longer amongst the living, perhaps Yahiko killed him and took his eyes, perhaps Nagato died of natural causes and gave his eyes to yahiko, similar to how my cousin gave his eyes to Kakashi senpei, it is unlikely that he died in battle though, given the power he might and should have wielded together with the backup of the powerful allies that he had in Konan and Yahiko._

 _Speaking of power, I have recently discovered that the rinnegan may have the power to resurrect the dead in the form of a true resurrection, but I regret to inform you that is as far as I have progressed in my attempts to uncover the mysteries of the rinnegan and the true power that he might posses. My attempts to befriend him and accompany him on missions have failed miserably, Konan and Madara sama seem intent on isolating him from not just me but the others too, I however do suspect that the intent is more towards me, I might possibly have to take a few steps back lest our cover be shattered to a million pieces. Nevertheless let me not forget to mention that we will begin to actively hunt the Bijuu in almost exactly three years from this date on, I hope you will be prepared by then._

 _There is no doubt in my mind that by now, you have already ascertained that none of the above mentioned reasons could possibly warrant such drastic measures, to the extent that I would break our rendezvous schedule, sensei, perhaps I should have taken your advice that day, perhaps I have truly failed you, Kushina sama, Naruko chan, Okaa chan, myself, and even my foolish little brother, perhaps I have failed everyone._

 _Sensei, please let not your hate or ire be directed towards my otouto, let it not be directed torwards Okaa chan, sensei, if you want justice, than I will take the full force of your hate and ire, I will take the blame for what my brother has done, sensei, I will gladly turn myself in so that you and your family may have your justice, I was the one that told him to murder his best friend, I was the one that mislead him, I was the one that ignored your advice, and I was the one that filled him with hate._

 _I am the reason my foolish little brother killed his best friend, sensei, Naruto kun has passed away, your son is dead._

 _Itachi_

 **Scene change**

"Naruko! How dare you do this to me? Come back here! I'm going to kill you!" screamed Rin, a 27 year old beautiful, voluptuous, and feral woman with shoulder length brown hair and two bangs framing her face, big brown eyes and long canines jutting out from her lips with the trademark Inuzuka clan markings on each of her cheeks. She is wearing black, long, tight fitting, and calf length ninja pants with white medical tape wrapped around her ankles. On her upper body is short sleeved version of the standard jounin top that is especially tight, but comfortable around her DD cupped chest area, she also has white medical tape wrapped around her forearms and a weapons and tools pouch on her left leg. Her normally brown coloured hair is now a neon orange colour, suspected to be the source of her ire.

"Hehehe, you'll never catch me alive Rin nee chan, that's the punishment you get for winning our last taijutsu spar!" replied Naruko with glee over her shoulder, Naruko, a beautiful 12 year old girl with a heart shaped face and bright blue eyes accentuated by her dark red, waist length, and silky hair. She is wearing black, tight fitting spandex shorts with a red mini skirt on top, and black low-heeled boots with an olive-green tipping. Her upper body is coloured inversely to her lower body with a short sleeved, red t - shirt that leaves her lower tummy open with a black flak jacket on top. She also has a grey weapons pouch attached to her right thigh.

"Naruko! Come back here and take your punishment like a real kunoichi! How dare you do this to me, how am I supposed to get a mate with this hideous hair colour, how could you swap a woman's hair conditioner with orange dye of all things!"screeched Rin in anger, chasing the poor little red head around the huge Uzumaki mansion.

"Tche, I can't believe those two are going at it again." Said Mikoto in amusement from her spot beneath the cool shade of a large tree. She is wearing tight fitting, black A.N.B.U pants that accentuate her hips and curves with blue ninja sandals and blue bandages around her ankles and a tight fitting, short sleeved shirt that is tight against her DD breasts with a turtle neck collar and the Uchiha clan fan symbol at the middle of her back.

"Hehehe, like I would ever turn myself in, what kind of mastermind criminal does that." Said Naruko tauntingly, leading the sexy inuzuka on a unending chase around the Uzumaki clan compound gardens.

"Sigh...how many times do I have to tell her not to play pranks on her elders!" said Kushina, an older and more endowed version of little Naruko with violet eyes and plump lips with red lipstick. She is wearing a similar outfit to her daughter with the exception the belly exposing under shirt, choosing rather to cover up her lower abdomen with a longer, dark navy top, her colour scheme is also different, with a her under shit being dark navy in colour and her overtop skirt is also a few inches longer than her daughter's, also dark navy in colour. If it wasn't for the obvious age difference, they could easily have been mistaken for twins.

"Oh give it a rest Kushina chan, you know she'll never stop her pranks, besides, haven't you noticed that Rin secretly enjoys giving chase to Naruko chan?" said Mikoto playfully.

"Heh, I guess you're right, must be some Inuzuka fetish." Replied Kushina with a equally playful smile.

Mikoto broke down into a fit of giggles after that, trust her long time best friend to brighten up her days when she was bored, she couldn't help but remember the times before they became genin, when her friend used to force her to participate in her pranking adventures, thank goodness her father never found out about her involvement, it was so unbefitting of one from the great uchiha to make the fool out of themselves, at least according to her dad, not that she cared about that at the time, she was just enjoying herself with her best friend and that was all that mattered to her at the time.

"You know, little naruto kun and her would get along really well, he had already surpassed your pranking feats when I was at the village, I wonder if Naruko chan would have been able to surpass him, or maybe they could have made a undefeatable tag team." Said Mikoto casually only to cover up her mouth with her hand immediately afterwards, mentally chastising herself for her slip up. She felt so guilty now seeing the hurt and pained expression on her friend, damn her for speaking without thinking.

"Naruto kun, my sochi, I miss him so much." Whispered Kushina to herself with her hand tightly gripping her chest area. Her body started to rock hard in between her sobs, she'd tried to suppress the feeling the whole day, the feeling that something terrible was about to take place and it was going to change her life drastically, this feeling, it was even worse than the one she had on the day she gave birth to her children. Something bad was going to happen to her, she could feel it and whatever it was, it involved her son somehow, because whenever she thought about him, or whenever someone mentioned his name, that feeling would return tenfold.

"K-kushina chan I...I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me, I'm sorry kushi chan, I'm sorry!" wailed Mikoto, she and Kushina crushing each other in a strong hug, both for their own comfort and for each other's comfort. Despite she herself being an emotional wreck, Kushina knew that Mikoto was suffering just as much as her because of her own sons, one was all alone after witnessing the cruel elimination of his family and went through the betrayal of his brother, while the other was a spy in an evil organisation where anyone of the members had the potential to kill him, even worse was her elder son's refusal to change his mind about his planned death to her younger son, whichever way she looked at it, Mikoto would lose one of her sons before the end of the next decade, something no mother should have to know or go through.

"Shhhhh, its ok Mikoto chan, we'll get through this, I prom..." trailed of kushina, cut of mid sentence by the most heart wrenching sound she had ever heard. It sounded like a death scream or the cries of some tormented soul, a hurt, pained, guilt ridden, sorrowful, and regret filled cry, someone in great despair.

"Kushina chan, what was that!" asked Mikoto in a harsh but worried whisper.

"I...It...I don't know, it came from the direction that...Minato kun!" screeched Kushina loudly, her eyes wide in fear and despair. Not wasting time Kushina, with incredible reflexes summoned her long, black katana with a dark red handle from a summoning seal on her right wrist and was storming down the surrounding forest in an instant before Mikoto could even react.

"Kushina! Don't go in alone!" shouted Mikoto before giving chase, with Rin and Naruko coming in and catching up with Mikoto, all three mentally and physically already prepared for what could possibly be the battle of their lives ,Naruko already had her own katana unsealed, very similar to her mother's except with a dark blue handle and Rin was already in her man beast mode, running full speed in order to catch up with their friend/mother.

"Aunt Mikoto, what'ts going on? What was that sound, it sounded like tou san, is he in trouble?" asked Naruko, a few tears falling from her bright blue eyes.

"I'm not sure, there aren't many shinobi that could give Minato kun any problems, but if there is someone like that, than it is the person who could infiltrate the barrier your mom and dad set up without alerting anyone, if indeed someone entered the barrier without us knowing until now, than the situation we are in is a very dire one, the only people capable of such a feat...are people from that organisation." Explained Mikoto.

 _'Akatsuki? The organisation that want to kill onii chan, I hate them, their the reason I can't be with my onii chan,I can't. I won't lose to them!_ ' thought Naruko, a determined expression forming on her face.

"Akatsuki? I see, then all we have to do is defeat them, this is exactly what we've been hiding out and preparing for all these years, if we cannot defeat them now, then all our efforts up until now would have been useless, in any case my nose is good enough to smell everything within this barrier, if there is an interloper, than he either doesn't have a scent, which is impossible, or he is masking it somehow, which also wouldn't work against me." Said Rin with a frown on her face.

"If both hypothetical scenarios are impossible, than what's going on?" asked Naruko

"From the intel we have received from Itachi kun, it is pretty much clear that the laws of science and physics do not apply to the akatsuki, some of them are even immortal, I wouldn't be surprised if there is someone who really doesn't have a scent among them." Pointed out Mikoto, the rest of the trip was conducted in silence after that, each one now trying to contemplate the possibilities of what lay ahead and prepared for the biggest fight of their lives.

'Its that feeling again, I've been feeling like this the whole day, Minato Kun, hold on, I won't let anything happen to you!' Thought Kushina as she sped through the beautiful jungle, not that she would notice or pay attention to something like that in her current mental and emotional state.

"There she is, we should slow down and approach with caution from here on, try to conceal your chakra as much as you can, I'll take care of the rest" Ordered Mikoto, the tamoe in her sharingan eyes spinning wildly as she set up a cloaking genjutsu to hide hers and her teammates' presence.

"Hai!" replied the other two kumoichi simultaneously.

They soon caught up to Kushina when they found her hiding behind a gigantic tree outside a large clearing, an area of the forest that they all recognised as Minato's favourite training ground.

"Kushina sama, where's the enemy?" whispered Rin.

Kushina had to admit that she almost peed on her pants at the sudden appearance of her friends and daughter, If it wasn't for her knowledge of her best friend's genjutsu abilities and her own shinobi experience, she might have blown their cover, she almost didn't notice them creaping up on her until the last second.

'Damn mikoto and her stupid genjutsu dattebane!' thought Kushina.

"Oka chan, what's wrong with otou san?" whispered Naruko with a sad and concerned expression, breaking Kushina from her momentary lapse.

It was strange behaviour indeed, her tou san was just standing there looking at the ground with his body rocking violently, she wasn't sure but she thought she could hear what sounded like choked sobs escaping from his throat.

"I don't know misume, I can't sense anyone around the vicinity and we haven't detected anything from the barrier, I'm sure its nothing, come, how about we go and cheer him up huh, how does that sound?" asked Kushina with a loving smile on her face, though the smile didn't quite reach her eyes, she could still feel it, that cold, oppressive feeling at the centre of her being and it was at an all time intensity at the moment, something was wrong about this whole scene, something was very wrong, she just couldn't put a finger on what it actually was though. Still, she would have to be strong for her misume, she couldn't and wouldn't allow her precious daughter to hurt because of her, even if she had to pretend everything was fine to do so.

 **Scene change**

Naruto hidden by his genjutsu, watched as Naruko played catch with the Inuzuka, he could not believe how similar they were yet how different they could be. How could someone be so innocent so free was beyond and even though his kaa sama kept telling him otherwise he knew he was a monster. One didn't get the title **Hitokiri Battousai (Sword-drawing Manslayer)** without killing a few people, well in his case he killed a few thousand people. Well that got him his S borderline SS rank ronin classification in the Bingo Book so it's not like he can complain about it. Suddenly he heard a scream, a scream he fully knew about, it was like a death scream or the cries of some tormented soul, a hurt, pained, guilt ridden, sorrowful, and regret filled cry, someone in great despair. He started running towards where it came from while thinking

' _damn it Itachi why the hell did you have to tell the moron in a letter, this type of Shit is better done in person, I mean what would happen if you waited a couple of months for your personal face to face report? I would come back to life? Now I have to deal with this shit, well like teacher like student, you bastards fuck shit up and I have to clean up after you. Damn Kushina san is here, this is not going to be pretty... Sigh Itachi you owe me a big one you son of a bitch.'_ he saw kushina, Mikoto, the Inuzuka and Naruko arrive where Namikaze was standing like a statue completely numb, he saw as his wife asked him what was the problem, and he saw him give her the paper, then he felt it, after she read it she started with the first phase

"No, no, it can't be..." denial, well that's good, he could deal with denial, then she broke down crying

"Why, why him, WHY DID MY SOCHI KUN DIE!" she screamed and Naruto could feel her tears sorrow and heartache, and before he could make his appearance known it hit him the final phase, revenge!

It wasn't like he could not understand her, when he knew about who made him a jinchuriki, he went through a very similar process, but he had a bijuu to help him with it and he was emotionally stable, Kushina was anything but emotionally stable, in fact she had the emotional stability of a fifteen year old girl on drugs, how someone like her was made into a jinchuriki was beyond him.

It is not the least bit uncommon for people to look for someone to blame during times of crisis and tragedy, this usually stems from their need for justice, but there cannot be justice if there is no one that can be held accountable for their pain, this is why people will almost always find a scapegoat to blame for their misfortunes, and it was not hard for Kushina to find her husband because he was right next to her and he was directly accountable for some of the painful things that happened to her and her family. So when Namikaze, the moron, came near her said

"it's okay Kushina chan, I am right here" all he heard was "...ie..." he asked her "yes honey what did you say?" something that caused Naruto to face palm while thinking ' _this is my father, and that is my mother, who the hell did I take after?_ ' the Uzumaki just looked at her husband and said

"DIE!" and punched him with a chakra enhanced fist.

The former jinchuuriki had been on a murderous rampage and beaten her husband to a near inch of his life, to her this was righteous judgement that had been a long time coming, he was the one that made her leave her sochi kun with that woman, he was the one that lied to her about her sochi's wellbeing and had it not been for Mikoto's arrival, she would have never found out about that excuse of a woman's abandonment of her son. He was the one that made her stay here even after she found out the truth and even went as far as to incapacitate her for weeks just to buy time to convince her otherwise. While she was on her rampage, Naruto could literraly hear her thoughts, they were something like this:

'She'd eventually given in after spending three weeks thinking about it, she was never happy about that decision but this was Minato koi, her husband, he would never have done something like this unless there was no other way around it right, besides the more she had thought about it, the more it seemed like the right decision to stay, it wasn't like she wouldn't see her sochi again right? Of course she would see him, and she would give him all the love in the world when they were reunited, she could still make up for the time lost when they went back to the village, things would become a lot worse if they just forcefully took him away from Konoha.

For one, they couldn't afford to make an enemy out of Konoha at the moment, this was a chance she would have taken with ease 12 years ago because she knew that Jiraiya and Tsunade, two of the legendary sannin would side with them, Tsunade was her family and Jiraiya was like a father to Minato kun and her children's god father, plus there was Rin and Kakashi. Of course at the time she could not have expected Mikoto to side with her, she had a whole clan to look out for at the time, but still, what she had would have been enough, she wouldn't have to worry about the safety of her children too much because there would be people to help protect them while they were busy holding off a ninja village and Akatsuki, it would have been difficult but she was sure they could have managed somehow with all those top class shinibi to back them up.

But after what she heard from Mikoto, she had realised how naive she was, yes she was furious that Minato kun lied to her, but she understood why he did, because running back to konoha to get her child would have been foolish, they had no one apart from Rin to support them, Itachi was too loyal to konoha and would probably betray them if they went against Konoha just like he betrayed his clan, and Mikoto would obviously side with her child just like Kushina herself would side with Minato kun no matter what. Jiraiya, Kakashi, and tsunade had already betrayed them by abandoning their son and leaving him to the wolves. And on top of Konoha and akatsuki, there was still Iwa and Kumo, if other people found out that they were missing ninja of konoha with little kids to protect, they would be after them like a pack of rabid dogs, not even the Legendary Yellow Flash and Red Death could survive those odds, if they were alone, maybe, but they had children, their enemies would use that against them, that was just unfortunately the cruel nature of the shinobi world.

Sure they could have faked Naru kun's death when he was born, but than people would want to know what happened to the Kyubi. Bijuu just didn't disappear like that. The only way to do it was to present him to the sandaime hokage as the jinchuuriki, at least this way he would have had the protection of a whole hidden village, until Minato kun could recover his strength, until they were ready to take care of Madara and his goons. Three weeks of incapacitation, explanations, and justifications was all it took for her to understand this and not go running back to konoha to get her sochi back after finding out about her husband's lies, she'd eventually forgiven him and in fact loved him even more for taking on such a heavy burden for the safety of his home and family, she knew that he had everyone's best interests at heart, that big heart of his was the reason she fell in love with him in the first place.

But! After finding out that her sochi was dead! What was the point then! What was the point of all this nonsense, what was the point of leaving him in that hell hole to suffer for so many years if he was going to die anyway! What was the damn point! If only she hadn't ignored her motherly instincts, if only she had just stormed back there and taken her sochi kun back to where he belonged, with his kaa chan! Sure he would have been in even more danger, but at least he would have been happy with his family, at least he would have known that he had a loving family, a mother, father, and sister who loved him more than anything in the world.'

All this had been too much for her to take in and it had made her turn her back on her husband. All that planning and scheming, all that training and preparation just seemed incredibly useless now, she had lost herself to her rage and attacked her beloved without even thinking, a crime of passion maybe. When she was about to decapitate her husband, Naruto having decided that the yellow flash had been beaten enough so he said " **higan ("Fire Gun")** " before pointing the index and middle fingers of his right arm at the former jinchuriki like guns, Naruto shoots bullets made of fire from them. Usually that attack would have made two finger shaped holes in her back, but Naruto wanted to have her attention on him not kill her so the bullets exploded when they touched her back. Effectively stopping her from killing her husband, she turned at him and in her rage she just jumped at whoever that was and bull rushed him ignoring her friends' advice.

 **Scene change**

Mikoto saw the jutsu that hit kushina in the back, and whoever it was that did the jutsu was an expert in katon ninjutsu. She was about to follow Kushina when a voice came from behind her

"it would best if you let the boss handle this, he is better at handling enraged people than you are." and she turned around and saw him, the stranger was Naruto is a tall, young man with tanned skin, he wore a skeletal mask with red eyepieces and had short spiky red hair. His hair is left wild and has long bangs that frame the left side of his face. He wears a straw hat (called a sakkat) and white shitagi (under clothing), black kosode (small sleeve), black hakama, a white hakama-himo, white tabi (foot pouch), and waraji, and a white haori with long sleeves. On his side is a standard katana, with a dark purple handle and a circular hand guard. She instantly recognised the man in front of her, with the sword the mask and the unnatural affinity and mastery of katon ninjutsu, there was only one man who met all the criterias

"you are the **Hitokiri Battousai (Sword-drawing Manslayer)** aren't you?" she asked and the man chuckled wich caused the rest of her friends to feel threatened but the man raised his hand and said

"you have nothing to fear from me, I am not here to harm you." but Mikoto instantly went through some handsigns before sitting some water and said " **suiton suijinheki (Water release water incampement wall)** " the others were about to ask why she did that when the water started to hiss and turned into steam. The others looked startled but Mikoto merely said

"using invisible katon chakra in order to burn us without us even knowing, you are skilled but you forgot, the Sharingan can see chakra. Anyway your actions aren't exactly friendly you know" she asked while narrowing her eyes, both the other females were ready for battle. The Battousai just shrugged before he answered

"you are wrong, that was to prove to you that I am no threat, if I was planning to attack you guys." he said while pointing his palm towards a building five hundred meters away, a flash of chakra that Mikoto barely saw and the building was gone, not burned to the ground, not exploded, but gone as in it was never there, seeing Mikoto's shocked face he continued "that would have been the result." he looked at Mikoto before he made his decision and said

"Mikoto san, while it is true that the world knows me as the **Hitokiri Battousai (Sword-drawing Manslayer)** " he said while unstrapping his mask that was changing his voice and the sakkat that was changing his hair color, her eyes widened when she saw who he was "you know me under a different name."

"Na.. Naruto kun is that you?" she asked causing bot Rin and Naruko to look at her while saying

""Naruto/ Onii chan!""

"Hello Mikoto san, but before we talk about this can you Inuzuka san check on the kiroii teme." he asked while pointing at Minato, that was when they remembered that Minato had taken the bearing of a lifetime at the hands of his wife, Rin quickly checked him up and what she saw was not good, she simply said

"This not good, he has multiple organ failures, multiple broken bones, and I think his kidneys were busted." she said sharingan everyone else but Naruto who just said

"keep him stable until the boss comes back, he will handle it Ja ne." and like that the clone dispelled just as a huge pillar of fire exploded in the distance.

 **Scene change**

'Damn, she really isn't holding back one bit.' thought Naruto while ducking under a slash meant to decapitate him from Kushina, the red proving once more why she was called the **aka no shi (red death)** , but Naruto was not the **Hitokiri Battousai (Sword-drawing Manslayer)** for nothing and he showed why people made him a flle on sight threat when he had a sword. Both swordmasters were fighting with all their skills, and while Naruto did not see himself as inferior to Kushina in kenjutsu, that did not stop him form feeling stressed in keeping up with her, he was fighting with a disability, he was fighting just to let her vent her frustration or to knock her out, she on the other hand was fighting to kill him, while her anger blinded her somewhat she more than made up for it with sheer experience and intensity, but no matter in this type of battle one simple mistake was all it took to decide a victor. Kushina merely does a slicing attack while switching the katana between the swing, changing the trajectory and the timing freely, that was one of the Shigure Souen Ryu techniques she created the **Samidare (Early Summer Rain)** , as she expected her opponent dodged her first swing, but got côté by the second, she smirked until she felt the hit, it was hollow, her opponent disappeared from in front of her and she heard from behind " **Ichi no ken Mangetsu (first sword Full Moon)** ". **Ichi no ken Mangetsu (first sword Full Moon)** was a basic technique, it simply combined kenjutsu bith bunshin no Jutsu. To the opponent, it looks like Naruto freezes for a second with his sword in hand. When they go for the kill, the clone will act as if struck and then disappear. He cuts them in half from behind before they have a chance to react. That was not going to happen since he was using the back of the sword, when the sword connected Kushina turned into water. He quickly turned around and saw the Uzumaki woman rushing him while saying " **Shajiku no Ame (Axle of Rain)"** while charging forward and attacks with a thrust. Naruto sheated his sword and waited for the right moment to counterattack, that was the thing about Batoujutsu, it was meant for one hit kill techniques, and since Naruto based his style on speed and skill, Batoujutsu was just the way to go for him, when she was within striking distance, he drew his sword but instead of holding the handle, he launched It at his opponent blocking her field of vision. Kushina was surprised by the manoeuver and missed the timing of her attack 'SHIT!' she screamed in her mind but the attack was far from over. He then grabs that sword in midair and slashed his opponent with the back of his sword, this time it connected with her shoulder breaking it causing her to scream in pain. He simply stared at her clutching her shoulder before he said " **Yon no ken Nagisengetsu (fourth sword Calm Crescent Moon)** , give up I broke your shoulder, we both know that I am not here to hurt you, allowing I want for you is to calm down." that caused Kushina to start chuckling before it turned into full blown laughter

"HAHAHA, Calm down, CALM DOWN, how can I calm down when MY SOCHI KUN IS DEAD!" she roared before she continued "I was leaving this for the masked bastard but now, you will help me test this, **Hiken** **Kiri Shigure (hidden blade Giraffe Autumn Rain/Drizzle)** " she raised a huge amount of water into the air with her sword then the water exploded showering her enemy in needle like rain drops which can pierce through steel. Naruto's eyes widened before his instincts took over and he said " **Hibashira ("Fire Pillar")** " and he amassed a large amount of flames around his body, then he shoots the collected flames straight upward, trying to stop to stop the attack, for a while both fire and water were equal, but soon the Fire lost ground and the water descended with a vengeance, seeing that his jutsu had no effect, Naruto cancelled it before channelling katon chakra to both his sheath and sword, and using a **nitoryu style (two sword style)** he started batting the water needles away, at first it worked but the attacks were too fast and too many and soon Naruto found himself just gritting his teeth in order to withstand the attack. That was the scene that both Mikoto and Naruko saw when they arrived, several minutes later the bombardement ended and Naruto was still standing he tried moving but he found the action much harder, glaring at kushina he asked

"you... what did you... do to me!" he roared in anger and pain, Kushina merely smirked and said

"my chakra is unique you know Dattebane, while my daughter can make chains out of her chakra, they don't have the ability to suppress chakra like mine can, so that got me thinking what if my chakra had the ability to suppress other things than simply chakra, after a few years of experimentating... Tada, By coating the water of this jutsu, the **Hiken** **Kiri Shigure (hidden blade Giraffe Autumn Rain/Drizzle)** , anything they cut will be suppressed, healing ability even movement will be harder, now DIE!" she screamed while charging Naruto with all her might, Mikoto was about to stop her when a look from Naruto made her stop. The blonde merely took a deep breath and said

"allow me to give your my name..." he started while taking a left facing stance, Kushina did not care as she continued her rush intendant to quell all the feeling of anger and pain in a single thrust of her sword. "I was called the **Hitokiri Battousai (Sword-drawing Manslayer).** " and now the mask and Sakkat fell allowing Kushina to see the face of her opponent, his blonde hair, his blue eyes, the face that looked like her husband's, that and her instincts told her hair identity "Sochi kun?" she asked and in her stuppor she could not syop her charge in time and was afraid of cutting her son down, that was until she felt pain in her chest, she looked and saw her son's katana had curieux through her chest, not deep enough to be fatal but deep enough to cause severe blood loss, she feel to her knees as Naruto sheathed his sword before he finished "my name is Uzumaki Naruto and the technique that defeated you was my own the **Go no ken Manjinuki (fifth sword Manji Draw)** , it starts with me taking a left facing stance. I then draw my blade by pulling the sheath back and wounding my opponent with an upward slash. Not only is the sheath drawing technique favorising for a super quick draw technique, but the left facing stance shortens the time needed for my sword to travel the distance between me and the opponent, it is your loss." Kushina for her part merely chuckled before saying "well done Sochi kun" and she fell face first. Naruto looked towards Mikoto and with a look asked her to carry Kushina, Naruko tried to help him get to her father but Naruto stopped her and continued walking on his own

 **Scene change**

Rin was doing the best she could in keeping her sensei's life stable, but she was bearing her limit, she then saw Naruto come near her and kneeled beside her, he looked like shit, he then looked at his father and said

"you owe me asshole" and he put his hand on the elders blonde's chest, by sending his chakra and activating rise he was healing his asshole of a father at a fast rate, one minute later he was done and Rin examiner the wounds and found them all healed, she said

"No way..." A few seconds later Minato woke up and looking at a younger version of himself standing in front of him, he asked

"Naruto... Is that you? AM I in Heaven?" the copy merely smirked and said

"nope you aren't dead yet, here let me help you." and Naruto raised his hand before bringing it down, by reflexe he raised his arms to block only for them to break like toothpicks from the blow. Next were his ribs and shoulders but he did not feel any pain as he had a concussion next.

Seeing his father on the ground Naruto smiled before he fell to exhaustion, causing the Inuzuka to sweatdrop at this.


	4. Chapter 4

_**the puppeteer of life.**_

 **Notice of rewrite.**

 **dear readers.**

 **I have realised that this story is wating its potentiel, so I have decided to do a rewrite of this story. I want you to know that I am not abandonning It, all there is that I am rethinking my approach to this story and after a few weeks I will have the new version up and running. As for my other stories I want you guys to know that I am not abandonning any of them all there is that my exams are around the corner so I need to focus on them.**

 **Thank you for your understanding.**

 **Immortal1145**


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